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HANSEL   AND    GRETHEL    FOLLOWING   THE    WHITE    BIRD 


GRIMM'S 

FAIRY    TALES 

Retold  in  One-Syllable  Words 


*& 


ILLUSTRATED 


McLOUGHLIN   BROTHERS 

New  York 


GRIMM'S  FAIRY  TALES 


HANSEL  AND   GRETHEL 

ONCE  on  a  time  there  dwelt  near  a  large  wood,  a  wood- 
man, with  his  wife  and  two  chil-dren,  a  boy  named 
Han-sel,  and  a  girl  named  Greth-el.  The  man  was  quite  poor. 
The  chil-dren's  own  moth-er  was  dead,  and  their  step-moth-er 
did  not  care  for  them. 

Hard  times  came,  when  there  was  no  work  for  the  man  by 
which  he  could  earn  the  means  to  buy  bread.  One  night, 
aft-er  they  had  gone  to  bed,  the  boy  and  girl  heard  their  fa-ther 
and  moth-er  talk-ing.  "What  shall  we  do?"  said  the  fa-ther. 
1 '  How  can  we  feed  the  chil-dren  when  we  have  not  as  much 
as  two  need  to  eat  ? ' ' 

"We  must  get  rid  of  the  chil-dren,"  said  the  step-moth-er. 
"Let  us  take  them  in -to  the  thick  part  of  the  wood  in  the 
morn-ing,  and  there  make  them  a  fire,  and  give  each  of  them 
a  small  piece  of  bread ;  then  we  will  go  to  our  work  and  leave 
them  a-lone,  so  they  will  not  find  the  way  home,  and  we  shall 
be  freed  from  them." 

"No,  wife,"  said   he,    "that   I   can   not  do.     How   can   you 


HANSEL  AND   GRETHEL 


have   the  heart  to   leave  the   poor    things  in   the  wood,  where 
the  wild  beasts  will  soon  come  and  tear  them  to  bits." 

' '  Oh,  you  goose  ! ' '  said  she  ;  ' '  then  we  must  all  four  die  for 

want  of  food."  And 
she  left  him  no  peace 
till  she  made  him  yield. 
The  boy  and  girl 
heard  all  this,  for 
they  had  not  gone  to 
sleep,  as  their  par-ents 
thought  they  had. 
Greth-el  wept,  and 
said  to  Han-sel,  "Oh, 
what  shall  we  do?" 
But  Han-sel  told  her 
not  to  cry,  for  he 
would  look  out  for  her. 
And  as  soon  as  their  par-ents  had  gone  to  sleep,  he  got  up, 
put  on  his  coat,  and  crept  out  of  doors.  The  moon  was  bright, 
and  the  small  white  stones  which  lay  on  the  path  in  front  of 
the  house  shone  like  pearls.  Han-sel  went  down  on  his  knees, 
and  picked  up  a  lot  of  them,  and  put  them  in  his  pock-et. 
Then  he  went  back  to  Greth-el,  and  said,  "Sleep  in  peace, 
dear  sister,  God  will  take  care  of  us." 

The   next  day,  as  soon  as   the   sun   rose,  the  wife  called  the 


HANSEL   PICKING   UP  THE  STONES 


HANSEL  AND  GRETHEL 


two  chil-dren.     "Come,"  she  said,  "you  must  get  up  at  once. 
We  have  to  go  to-day  to  chop  wood." 

Then  she  gave  them  each  a  piece  of  bread,  and  said,  "Tnere 
is  some-thing  for  your  lunch.  Don't  eat  it  till  it  is  time,  for 
it  is  all  you  will  get."  Greth-el  took  the  bread,  for  Han-sel's 
pock-ets  were  so  full  of  stones  there  was  no  room  in  them  for 
it,  and  so  they  all  set  out  on  their  way. 

As   they  went  on, 
Han-sel    each    few 
steps  dropped  one  of 
the    stones    on    the 
path.       When     they 
had    gone    far    into  0%$ 
the  wood,  the  fa-ther     rm 
told  the  chil-dren  to      Iffy 
pick  up   some  wood 
for    a    fire,    so    that 
they   should    not    be 
cold. 

Han-sel    and    Greth-el    picked 
up   quite  a  large  heap  of  twigs, 
and  the  wife  set  fire  to  them.     As  the 
flames  burned  high,  she  said,   "Now  lie 
down  by  the  fire  and  rest,  while   we  chop  wood. 
When  it  is  time  to  go  home,  I  will  call  you." 


HAN8EL  DROPPING  THE 
8TONES 


4  HANSEL  AND   GRETHEL 

Han-sel  and  Greth-el  sat  down  by  the  fire,  and  when  it  was 
noon  each  ate  the  piece  of  bread.  They  could  hear  a  sound 
like  blows  of  an  axe,  and  thought  their  fa-ther  must  be  near ; 
but  it  was  not  an  axe,  but  a  branch  which  he  had  bound  to 
a  tree,  so  as  to  be  blown  to  and  fro  by  the  wind. 

At  last  they  fell  a -sleep.  When  they  woke  up  it  was  quite 
dark,  and  Greth-el  be-gan  to  cry,  "How  shall  we  get  out  of 
the  wood?'  But  Han-sel  tried  to  corn-fort  her  by  say-ing, 
' '  Wait  a  while  till  the  moon  comes  up,  and  then  we  will  find 
the  way  in  a  short  time." 

The  moon  soon  shone  forth,  and  then  Han-sel  took  his 
sister's  hand,  and  traced  his  way  by  the  stones  he  had  dropped 
on  the  path.  All  night  long  they  walked  on,  and  as  day 
broke  they  came  to  their  fath-er's  house.  They  knocked  at 
the  door,  and  when  the  wife  o-pened  it,  and  saw  them,  she 
cried  out,  "You  bad  chil-dren,  why  did  you  sleep  so  long  in 
the  wood  ?  We  thought  you  would  nev-er  come ! ' '  But  the 
fa-ther  was  glad,  for  it  had  made  him  feel  sore  at  heart  to 
leave  them  in  the  wood. 

The  times  grew  wdTse  and  worse,  and  soon  the  chil-dren 
heard  their  moth-er  say  to  their  fa-ther,  "All  is  gone  a-gain. 
We  have  but  half  a  loaf  left,  and  then  we  must  starve. 
The  chil-dren  must  go ;  we  will  take  them  deep-er  in-to  the 
wood,  so  that  they  may  not  find  the  way  out  this  time.  It  is 
the  only  way  we  can  es-cape  death  our-selves. " 


HANSEL  AND   GRETHEL 


But  the  man  felt  sad,  and  thought,  "It  would 
be  bet-ter  to  share  the  last  crust  with  the  chil- 
dren." But  his  wife  would  not  give  in  to  him, 
and  in  the  end  she  had  her  way. 

The    chil-dren    had   heard 

all   this  as   they  lay  a-wake 

in  bed ;  and   as  soon   as  the 

man  and   his   wife   went  to 

sleep,  Han-sel  got  up. 


,^  He  meant  to  pick  up 
some  more  of  the  small 
stones ;  but  the  wife 
had  locked  the  door, 
and   he   could   not  get 

PH; out.     Still   he  tried   to 

corn-fort       Greth-el,      say-ing, 

Do  not   cry  ;  sleep  in   peace ; 

God  will  not  for-sake  us." 

At  sun-rise  the  wife  came  and  made  them  get  up,  and  gave 

each  a  slice  of  bread  which  was   small-er  than  the   first  piece. 

On  the  way,   Han-sel   broke  his   in   his  pock-et,  and   now  and 

then  dropped  a  crumb  on  the  path. 

The  chil-dren  were  led  deep  in-to  the  wood,  to  a  part  in 
which  they  had  nev-er  been  be-fore.  A  big  fire  was  made, 
and   the   wife   said   to   them,    "Sit   down   here   and   rest,    and 


"WHY   DID   YOU   SLEEP  SO   LONG   IN   THE   WOOD?' 


HANSEL  AND   GRETHEL 


when  you  feel  tired  you  can  sleep  for  a  while.    We  must  chop 
wood,  but  in   in   the  eve-ning,  when  we   are   through,  we  will 

come  for  you." 

When  noon  came, 
Greth-el  shared  her  bread 
with  Han-sel,  who  had 
strewn  all  his  on  the  path. 
Then  they  went  to  sleep ; 
but  the  eve-ning  came, 
and  still  they  were  left  a- 

JIS^sSllllFjGiiitf*^     Tj'|S||.*/    lone.     In  the  dark   night, 

they  woke  up,  and  Han- 
sel said  to  Greth-el,  "On-ly 
wait,  Greth-el,  till  the 
moon  comes  out ;  then 
we  shall  see  the  crumbs  of 


GRETHEL  SHARES  HER  BREAD  WITH  HANSEL 


bread  I  have  dropped,  and  they  will  show  us  the  way  home." 
The  moon  shone,  and  they  got  up,  but  they  could  see  no 
crumbs,  for  the  flocks  of  birds  that  had  flown  a-bout  in  the 
woods  and  fields  had  picked  them  all  up.  ' '  We  shall  soon  find 
the  way,"  Han-sel  kept  say-ing  to  Greth-el;  but  they  did  not, 
and  they  walked  the  whole  night  long  and  the  next  day,  and 
still  they  did  not  come  out  of  the  wood,.  They  were  weak  for 
want  of  food,  for  they  had  noth-ing  to  eat  but  a  few  ber-ries 
which  they  found  on  a  bush.     Soon  they  got  too  tired  to  drag 


HANSEL  AND  GRETHEL 


them -selves  a -long,  so  they  lay  down  at  the  foot  of  a  tree  and 
went  to  sleep. 

The  third  day  since  they  left  home  came,  and  still  they 
walked  on,  but  they  on-ly  got  deep-er  in  the  wood,  and  Han- 
sel saw  that  if  help  did  not  come  soon  they  must  die.  But 
just   then   they   saw  a  snow-white   bird   that   sat   on  a  bough, 

and  sang  a  sweet  song.  It  soon  left 
off,  and  spread  its  wings,  and  flew  a- 
way.  The  chil-dren  went  after  it  till 
they  came  to  a  small  house,  on  the 
roof  of  which  the  bird  perched.  When 
they  went  up  close  to  it,  they  saw 
that  the  house  was  made  of  bread  and 
cakes.  This  was  a  fine  treat  for  the 
hun-gry  boy  and  girl,  and  each  broke 
off  a  piece  of  the  house,  and  be-gan 
to  eat. 

All  at  once  an  old  wom-an  o-pened 
the  door  and  came  out.  The  chil-dren 
were  in  such  a  fright  that  they  let  fall 
what  they  had  in  their  hands,  but  the 
old  wom-an  said,  "Ah,  you  dear  chil- 
dren, what  has  brought  you  here? 
Come  in  and  stop  with  me,  and  no 
harm   shall   come   to   you."     She  took 


THE    OLD    WITCH 


8  HANSEL  AND  GRETHEL 

them  both  by  the  hand,  and  led  them  in-to  the  house.  There  she 
gave  them  a  fine  meal  of  milk,  cakes,  fruit,  and  nuts ;  and 
when  they  were  through,  put  them  to  bed  in  a  nice  room  with 
two  small  beds  in  it,  in  which  the  chil-dren  lay  down  and 
thought  they  were  in  heav-en. 

The  old  worn -an  was  kind  to  them  at  first,  but  in  truth  she 
was  a  witch  who  caught  chil-dren  to  eat  them,  and  had  built 
the  bread  house  to  serve  as  a  trap  for  them.  The  next  morn- 
ing she  came  and  looked  at  them  as  they  slept,  and  mum -bled 
to  her-self,   ''They  will  make  a  nice  bite  for  me." 

Then  she  took  up  Han-sel  with  her  rough  hand,  and  shut 
him  up  in  a  small  room  that  had  a  barred  door,  like  a  cage. 
He  cried  loud-ly,  but  it  was  of  no  use. 

Next  she  shook  Greth-el,  and  said,  "Get  up,  you  la-zy 
thing,  and  fetch  some  wa-ter  to  cook  some  food  for  your 
broth-er,  who  must  stay  in  that  cage  and  get  fat.  When  he 
is  fat  as  he  ought  to  be,  I  shall  eat  him." 

Greth-el  be-gan  to  cry,  too,  but  it  did  no  good,  for  the  old 
witch  made  her  do  as  she  wished.  So  a  nice  meal  was  cooked 
for  Han-sel,  but  Greth-el  got  noth-ing  but  crab's  claws. 

Each  morn-ing  the  old  witch  came  to  the  cage  and  said, 
"Han-sel,  stick  out  your  fin-ger,  so  that  I  may  see  if  you  are 
fat."  But  Han-sel  used  to  stick  out  a  bone,  and  the  old  witch, 
who  had  poor  sight,  took  it  for  his  fin-ger,  and  thought  it 
strange  that  he  was  so  lean. 


HANSEL  AND   GRETIIEL  9 

When  four  weeks  had  passed,  and  Han-sel  still  kept  quite 
lean,  she  got  tired  of  wait-ing,  and  said  she  would  have  him 
for  din-ner  the  next  day,  fat  or  lean.    The  chil-dren  be-gan  to 

cry,  but    the  old   witch  told   them 
to  be  still.    ' '  Leave  off  that  noise, 
she    said,    "it   will    not    help    you 
a  bit." 

Next  morn-ing  she  made  Greth- 
el  fill  the  great  pot  with  wa-ter, 
and  make  a  fire.  "First  we  will 
bake,  though,"  said  the  old 
witch.  "The  o-ven  is  al- 
ready hot,  and  I  have  made 
the  bread. ' '  She  pushed  poor 
Greth-el  up  to  the  oven,  in 
which  there  was  a  fierce  fire. 
"Creep  in,"  she  cried,  "and 
see  if  it  is  hot  e-nough,  and 
then  we  will  put  in  the  bread."  She  meant  when  Greth-el 
got  in  to  shut  up  the  o-ven  and  let  her  bake,  so  that  she 
might  eat  her  as  well  as  Han-sel. 

But  Greth-el  knew  what  she  wished  to  do,  and  said,  "I 
don't  know  how  to  do  it.     How  can  I  creep  in?'1 

"What  a  goose  you  are,"  said  the  old  witch,  "the  door  is 
large   e-nough.     Look   here,  I   can   get   in   my-self;"  and   she 


HANSEL    IN   THE   CAGE 


10 


HANSEL  AND   GRETHEL 


crawled  up  and  stuck  her  head  in  the  ov-en.  A  bright  thought 
came  to  Greth-el.  She  gave  the  old  witch  a  push,  and  she 
fell  in-to   the   ov-en.     Then  Greth-el   shut   the  door   and  drew 

the  bolt. 

How  the  old  witch  did  howl ! 
But  Greth-el  ran  to  the  cage 
and  let  her  broth-er  out.  "O, 
Han-sel !  we  are  free, ' '  she  said, 
"the  old  witch  is  dead." 

As    soon    as    the    door    was 

o-pened,     Han-sel     sprang    out 

from   the  cage  like  a  bird,  and 

they  were  so    glad  that 

they    threw    their    arms 

round  each  other's  neck, 

and   kissed   each   other, 

and  ran  a-bout  for  joy. 

They    went     through 

the  house,  and   in   each 

GRETHEL    PUSHES  THE  W.TCH    ,NTO  THE  OVEN  cor_ner       sto(xJ       cnestS      Of 

gold  and  pearls.  "These  are  bet-ter  than  the  small  white 
stones,"  said  Han-sel,  as  he  filled  his  pock-ets  with  all  that 
they  could  hold. 

"I   will   take  some  home   too,"  said  Greth-el,  as  she  filled 
her  a-pron. 


HANSEL  AND   GRETHEL 


11 


"Now  we  must  go,"  said  Hansel,  "and  get  out  of  this  be- 
witched wood." 

When  they  had  walked  for  two  hours,  they  came  to  a  large 
piece  of  water. 
' '  How  shall  we 
cross  ? ' '  said  Han- 
sel. "I  see  no 
bridge  of  any 
kind. 

There  are  no 
boats,  ei-ther," 
said     Greth-el.    S^SSS  m 

But  there  swims 
a  white  duck.  I 
will  ask  her  to 
help   us   to   cross. 


RIDING    ACROSS    THE    WATER    ON    A    DUCK'S    BACK 


"O,    little   white 

duck,  let  poor  Han-sel  and  Greth-el  ride  a-cross  the  wa-ter  on 

your  back  ! ' '  said  she. 

The  duck  swam  up  to  them,  and  Han-sel  sat  down  on  his 
back,  and  told  his  sis-ter  to  sit  be-hind.  But  she  said,  "No, 
that  would  be  too  much  for  the  duck.  She  must  take  one  of 
us  at  a  time." 

The  good  lit-tle  duck  did  so,  and  when  they  had  walked  a 
short  time  on  the   oth-er  side,  they  came  at   last  to  a  part  of 


12  HANSEL  AND   GRETHEL 

the  wood  which  they  knew.  They  went  on  and  on,  and  at 
last  came  in  sight  of  their  fa-ther's  house. 

Then  they  be-gan  to  run,  and  burst-ing  in-to  the  room,  threw 
their  arms  round  their  fa-ther's  neck. 

The  poor  man  had  not  had  one  hap-py  hour  since  he  left 
his  chil-dren  in  the  wood,  and  af-ter  he  had  lost  them,  his 
wife  died  too. 

Greth-el  shook  her  a-pron,  and  the  pearls  and  gems  rolled 
out  on  the  floor,  and  Han-sel  drew  hand-ful  af-ter  hand-ful 
from  his  pock-et.  Their  sor-row  was  now  at  an  end,  and 
they  lived  in  great  peace  and  joy. 


MR.   KORBES 


ONCE  on  a  time  a  cock  and  a  hen  thought  they  would 
like  to  go  on  a  short  trip.  So  the  cock  built  a  nice 
tart  with  four  red  wheels,  and  hitched  up  four  mice  to  it, 
and  off  they  drove. 

They  had  not  gone  far  when  they  met  a  cat,  who  said  he 
would  like  to  know  where  they  were  bound  for. 

"We  mean  to  make  a  call  on  Mr.  Korbes,"  said  the  cock. 

"Take  me  with  you,"  said  the  cat. 

"All  right,"  said  the  cock.  "You  may  sit  in  the  back  part 
of  the  cart,  but  take  care  you  do  not  scratch  my  red  wheels. 


MR.   KOEBES 


13 


* V^  *"^sU-  li,- 


ON    THE    ROAD   TO    MR.    KORBES'S 


And  then  he  cried  out,  "Now  turn  fast,  little  wheels,  and 
race  on  lit-tle  mice,  or  we  shall  be  too  late  to  find  Mr.  Korbes 
at  home." 

But  they  did  not  get  on  at  all  fast,  for  they  stopped  first  to 


14  MR.   KORBES 

take  in  a  mill -stone,  then  an  egg,  then  a  duck,  then  a  pin, 
and,  last  of  all,  a  nee-dle. 

When  they  did  reach  the  house  of  Mr.  Korbes  he  was  not 
at  home.  The  mice  drew  the  cart  in  the  shed ;  the  cock  and 
hen  flew  up  on  a  beam ;  the  cat  sat  by  the  hearth ;  the  duck 
on  the  well-curb ;  the  egg  wrapped  it-self  in  the  tow-el ;  the  pin 
stuck,  point  up,  in  a  chair ;  the  nee-dle  went  in  the  bed ;  and 
the  mill-stone  laid  it-self  up  o-ver  the  door. 

Soon  Mr.  Korbes  came  home.  He  went  to  the  hearth  to 
make  a  fire,  but  the  cat  threw  coal-dust  in  his  eyes.  He  ran 
to  the  well  to  wash  them,  but  there  the  duck  threw  wa-ter 
at  him. 

Then  he  went  to  dry  his  face,  but  as  he  took  up  the  tow -el, 
the  egg  burst,  and  flew  in  his  eyes,  and  stuck  them  fast  like  glue. 

So  much  ill  luck  made  him  feel  tired,  so  he  sat  down  in  his 
chair  to  rest,  but  the  pin  stuck  in  him  and  he  sprang  up  in 
a  great  rage. 

He  threw  him-self  on  the  bed,  but  as  soon  as  his  head 
touched  the  pil-low  the  point  of  the  nee-dle  pricked  him  so 
that  he  gave  a  shout  of  pain,  and  in  great  wrath  ran  to  the 
door  to  leave  the  house.  But  just  as  he  reached  the  door  the 
mill-stone  fell  on  his  head  and  killed  him  on  the  spot. 

Do  you  not  think  Mr.  Korbes  must  have  been  a  bad  man? 


*-    \ 


15 

THE  WOLF  AND  THE  SIX 
LITTLE   KIDS 

THERE  was  once  an  old  goat  who  had  six  kids,  of  whom 
she  was  as  fond  as  a  moth-er  could  be. 

One  day  she  had  to  go  out  to  get  some  food  for  them,  so 
she  called  them  all  to  her,  and  said,  ' '  Dear  young  ones,  I  must 
go  out  and  get  some  food  for  you.  Be  on  your  guard  that 
the  wolf  don't  come  in  the  house ;  for  if  he  does,  he  will  eat 
you  all  up.  He  will  try  in  all  ways  to  fool  you,  but  you  can 
tell  him  with  ease  by  his  rough  voice  and  his  black  feet." 

"Dear  moth-er,"  said  the  kids,  "you  need  have  no  fear; 
we  will  take  good  care  not  to  let  the  wolf  in." 

So  the  old  goat  said  good-by,  and  went  off  with  her  mind 
at  rest. 

It  was  not  long  when  the  kids  heard  a  knock  at  the  door, 
and  some  one  cried,  "O-pen  the  door,  dear  young  ones;  your 
moth-er  has  come  home,  and  has  brought  some-thing  nice  for 
each  one  of  you." 

But  the  kids  knew  by  the  rough  voice  that  it  was  the  wolf, 
and  they  said,  "We  will  not  o-pen  the  door  for  you.  You 
are  not  our  moth-er ;  she  has  a  fine,  sweet  voice,  but  yours  is 
coarse  and  harsh ;  you  must  be  the  wolf. 

So  the  wolf  left  them  and  went  to  a  store,  where  he  bought 


10  THE   WOLF  AND  THE   SIX   LITTLE   KIDS 

a  large  piece  of  chalk.  This  he  ate  to  make  his  voice  soft, 
and  then  he  came  back  and  knocked  at  the  door  of  the  goat's 
house  a -gain.  "Open  the  door,  dear  young  ones,"  he  said; 
"your  moth-er  has  brought  some-thing  nice  for  each  one 
of  you." 

But  the  wolf  had  put  his  black  paws  on  the  win-dow  sill, 
and  the  kids  saw  them.  So  they  cried,  'We  will  not  o-pen 
the  door  for  you.  You  are  not  our  moth-er ;  she  has  not  big, 
black  feet.     You  must  be  the  wolf." 

Then  the  wolf  ran  to  a  ba-ker,  and  said,  "I  have  hurt  my 
foot ;  please  put  some  dough  on  it. ' ' 

As  soon  as  his  foot  was  cov-ered  with  dough,  he  ran  to  the 
mil-ler  and  said,   "Put  some  white  flour  on  my  foot." 

The  mil-ler  thought,  "The  wolf  wants  to  play  a  trick  on 
some  one, ' '  and  he  was  not  go-ing  to  do  it ;  but  the  wolf  said, 
"If  you  don't,  I  will  eat  you  up." 

This  put  the  mil-ler  in  a  fright,  so  he  spread  flour  on  the 
wolf's  feet.  Then  the  bad  wolf  went  a  third  time  to  the  goat's 
house,  knocked,  and  said,  "O-pen  the  door,  dear  young  ones; 
your  moth-er  has  come  home,  and  has  brought  some-thing 
nice  for  each  one  of  you." 

"Show  us  your  feet  first,"  said  the  kids,  "that  we  may 
know  if  you  are  our  mother  or  not." 

The  wolf  put  his  paw  on  the  win-dow  sill,  and  when  they 
saw  that  it  was  white,  they  thought  he  must  be  their  moth-er, 


THE   WOLF   AND   THE   SIX   LITTLE    KIDS  17 

and  let  him  in.  Great  was  their  fear  when  they  saw  it  was 
the  wolf.  They  ran  this  way  and  that  way  to  try  to  hide. 
One  went  un-der  the  ta-ble,  an-oth-er  in-to  the  bed,  a  third 
in-to  the  ov-en,  a  fourth 
in-to  the  cup-board,  a 
un-der  the  wash-tub 
the  sixth  in-to  the 
clock-case.  But 
the  wolf  found 
them,  and  ate  up 
all  but  the  young- 
est one  of  them, — 
the  one  that  was 
hid  in  the  clock- 
case.  Then  the 
wolf  went  out,  and 
on  the  grass  be-neath 
and  went  to  sleep. 

In  a  short  time  the  old  goat  came  home.  What  a  sight 
met  her  eyes !  The  door  stood  wide  o-pen,  and  the  whole 
house  was  up-set.  Not  a  kid  was  to  be  seen ;  she  called  each 
one ;  but  no  one  spoke  till  she  came  to  the  name  of  the  young- 
est, when  a  weak  voice  said,  "Dear  moth-er,  I  am  hid  in  the 
clock-case." 

She  helped  the  young  kid  out,  and  heard  how  the  wolf  had 


THE    WOLF    AT    THE    BAKERS 


18 


THE  WOLF  AND  THE  SIX  LITTLE  KIDS 


come  and  eat-en  up  all  her  oth-er  dear  young  ones.  She  wept 
and  wept  as  if  she  would  nev-er  stop.  At  length  she  and  the 
kid  went  out  for  a  walk.  When  they  had  gone  a  few  steps 
they  saw  the  wolf,  where  he  lay  a-sleep  on  the  grass,  snor-ing 
so  loud  that  he  shook  the  leaves  on  the  trees. 
The  old  goat  looked  at  him  with  care,  and 
thought  she  could  see  some-thing  move  in-side 
of  him.  ' '  Can  it  be, ' '  she  thought, 
j  young  ones  whom  he 
ill  a-live?'  She  at  once 
sent  the  young  kid  home 
for  the  shears,  and  with 
them  she  cut  the  wolf 
o-pen.  She  had  just 
made  a  small  slit,  when 
|^  one  of  the  kids  put  his 
head  out.  She  cut 
some  more,  and 
out  it  sprang,  and 
then  an-other, 
and  an-oth-er,  till  all 
were  out,  as  full  of 
life  as  ever ;  for  the 
wolf  had  been  so 
gree-dy  that   he  swal- 


ONE    LITTLE    KID    IS    ALL    RIGHT 


THE  WOLF  AND  THE  SIX  LITTLE  KIDS  19 

lowed  them  whole,  and  had  not  hurt  them  a  bit.  Oh,  it  was 
a  time  of  joy !  The  kids  danced  and  jumped  a-bout,  they  were 
so  full  of  glee. 


THE   WOLF    IS    FOUND   ASLEEP    ON    THE    GRASS 


But  the  old  goat  said  to  them,  "Go  and  get  some  stones, 
and  we  will  put  them  in-side  of  this  scamp,  and  sew  him  up 
be-fore  he  wakes. 

So  the  kids  ran  in  great  haste,  and  brought  large  stones, 
which  they  put  in -side  of  the  wolf.  Then  the  old  goat  sewed 
up  the  slit    and  the  wolf  did  not  wake  nor  move. 


20  TALES  ABOUT   ELVES 

When  the  wolf's  sleep  was  out,  he  got  up,  and  as  the  stones 
gave  him  a  great  thirst,  he  went  to  a  brook  for  a  drink.  As 
he  stooped  to  drink,  the  weight  of  the  stones  made  him  fall 
in-to  the  wa-ter,  and  he  was  drowned. 

Then  the  six  young  ones  gave  a  shout,  ' '  The  wolf  is  dead ! 
The  wolf  is  dead  ! ' '  and  they  and  their  moth-er  danced  for  joy 
all  the  way  home. 


TALES   ABOUT  ELVES 

FIRST   TALE 

ASHOE-MA-KER,  through  no  fault  of  his  own,  once  grew 
so  poor  that  he  had  on-ly  as  much  stuff  left  as  would 
make  one  pair  of  shoes.  He  cut  out  the  shoes  at  night  so 
that  he  could  set  to  work  the  next  day. 

But  when  he  got  up  at  dawn  and  went  to  work,  he  found 
the  pair  of  shoes  laid  on  his  bench  all  made.  He  did  not 
know  what  to  think.  He  took  the  shoes  in  his  hands,  and 
looked  at  them  with  care,  but  he  could  not  find  one  poor 
stitch ;  they  were  as  good  as  could  be. 

A  man  soon  came  in  who  bought  them,  and  thought  they 
were  so  good  a  pair  that  he  paid  a  high  price  for  them.  The 
shoe-ma -ker  could  now  buy  stuff  for  two  pairs  of  shoes.  He 
cut  them  out  at  night  to  lose  no  time,  but  there  was  no  need 


TALES  ABOUT  ELVES  21 

of  this,  for  when  he  got  up  the  next  day  they  were  made. 
Be-fore  night  he  sold  these,  and  could  then  buy  stuff  for  four 
pairs  of  shoes.  At  dawn  he  found  them  made,  and  thus  it 
went  on,  day  by  day.  In  this  way  he  did  well,  and  in  the 
end  got  rich. 

One  night  he  said  to  his  wife,    "How  would  it  do  for  us  to 

sit  up  and   see  who  it  is   that   does   all 
this  work  for  us  ? " 

His    wife    thought   it   would   be    well, 

so  they  set  a  light  to  burn,  and   hid  at 

one    end    of    the    room,    be-hind    some 

clothes  that  hung  there.     When  it  was 

late,  two  small  elves  came  in  and  went 

to  work.     They  had  no  clothes  on, 

though  it  was  the  cold  part  of  the 

year.     They  did   the  work  up 

fast,  and  then  went  a-way. 

The  next  day  the  wife 
said,  "Those  elves  have 
made  us  rich,  and  we 
ought  to  make  them  a 
|\V  gift.  I  know  what  we 
^  will  do.  They  must  be 
cold  with -out   clothes,   so 

.  I  will  make  shirts'  coats' 


22  TALES  ABOUT  ELVES 

pants,  and  socks  for  them  and  you  shall  make  each  a  pair  of 
shoes. ' '  The  man  thought  this  a  good  plan,  and  by  night  the 
gifts  were  all  made.  They  laid  them  on  the  bench,  and  then 
hid  to  see  how  the  elves  would  act. 

At  mid-night  they  came  in,  and  when  they  went  to  look  for 
the  stuff  to  work  with,  they  found  their  nice  new  clothes  in 
its  place.  They  put  them  on  in  great  glee,  and  danced  and 
hopped  a-bout,  and  jumped  o-ver  the  bench  and  the  chairs, 
and  sang.  At  last  they  danced  out  of  the  room,  and  af-ter 
that  they  were  seen  no  more. 

But  all  went  well  with  the  shoe-ma-ker,  and  he  had  good 
luck  as  long  as  he  lived. 

SECOND  TALE 

THERE  was  once  a  poor  maid  who  worked  hard  and  was 
ver-y  neat.  The  house  and  the  yard  were  swept  with  care, 
and  the  dirt  was  put  in  a  heap  and  car-ried  a-way. 

One  day  she  found  a  note,  and  as  she  could  not  read  she 
took  it  to  her  mas-ter.  It  turned  out  to  be  a  note  from  the 
elves  to  ask  her  to  come  and  be  god-moth-er  to  one  of  their 
chil-dren.  The  maid  did  not  at  first  know  what  to  do,  but  at 
length  made  up  her  mind  to  go. 

Three  elves  came  who  took  her  to  a  hol-low  moun-tain  where 
they  lived.  All  the  things  in  their  home  were  small,  but  rich 
and  fine.     The  maid  stood  god-moth -er  to  the  child,  and  then 


TALES   ABOUT   ELVES 


23 


she  wished  to  go  home ;  but  the  elves  begged  her  to  stay  with 
them  three  days.    So  she  staid,  and  the  days  went  by  joy-fully 

with  her.     When  the  time 

came    for    her    to   go,    the 

€(k~^-^*s^PS^  elves  gave  her  a  lot  of  gold, 

and    led     her    out    of    the 
moun-tain. 
When    she   got   back    to 
y-—f^  the    house,    she    took 


c 


her  broom   and  set  to 


THE   ELVES  TAKE  THE   MAID 
TO   WHERE   THEY   LIVE 


work.  But  strange  peo  pie  came  to  her  and  asked  who  she 
was,  and  what  she  did  there.  Then  she  found  out  that  she 
had  been  in  the  home  of  the  elves  sev-en  years  in  place  of 
three  days,  and  that  while  she  was  gone  her  old  mas-ter 
had  died. 


24 


TALES  ABOUT  ELVES 


THIRD  TALE 

THERE  was  once  a  moth-er  who  had  the  dear-est  lit-tle  babe 
in  the  world,  but  one  day  the  elves  came  and  ran  off  with  it, 
and  in  its  place  left  a  change-ling,  with  a  great  big  head  and 
star-ing  eyes,  who  did  noth-ing  but  eat  and  drink  all  the  day 
long. 

The  moth-er  was  full  of  grief,  and  told  her  neigh-bors  of  her 
sad  piece  of  luck,  and  asked  if  they  could  tell  her  what  she 
ought  to  do. 

One  of  them  told  her  to  set  the  strange  child  in  front  of 
the  hearth,  build  a  fire,   and  boil  some  milk  in  two  egg-shells. 


^r^?% 


"This   will    make    the    child 

laugh,"    said  the    neigh-bor, 

and   if  he    once    laughs    it 

will  be  all  o-ver  with 

him." 

The  wom-an  did  as 
she  was  told.  As  soon 
as  she  put 
the  egg-shells 
in  place,  the 
strange  child 
sang  out : 


THE   CHANGELING 


THE  STRAW,  THE  COAL,  AND  TFIE   BEAN  25 

"  Old  am  I  as  the  old-est  tree, 
But  to  cook  in  egg-shells  is  new  to  me." 

Then  he  be-gan  to  laugh,  and  as  he  laughed  there  came  in 
a  whole  crowd  of  elves.  To  the  great  joy  of  the  moth-er,  they 
brought  back  her  own  child,  and  placed  it  on  the  hearth,  and 
took  the  strange  one  off  with  them. 


THE  STRAW,  THE  COAL,  AND 
THE   BEAN 

IN  a  small  town  there  once  lived  an  old  dame.  One  day 
she  had  some  beans  to  cook,  so  she  built  a  fire  on  the 
hearth,  and  to  make  it  burn  fast  threw  on  some  straw.  As 
she  poured  the  beans  in-to  the  pot,  one  of  them  dropped  on 
the  floor  and  rolled  near  a  straw.  Soon  a  red-hot  coal  popped 
from  the  fire,  and  fell  near  the  bean  and  the  straw. 

Then  the  straw  spoke.  "Good  friends,"  said  he,  "where 
did  you  come  from?" 

"I  had  the  good  luck  to  jump  out  of  the  fire,"  said  the 
coal.  "If  I  had  not  done  so,  I  should  have  been  burnt  to 
death." 

Then  the  bean  said,  "I  had  the  luck  to  get  off  with  a  whole 


26  THE  STRAW,  THE  COAL,  AND  THE  BEAN 

skin,  too.     If  the  old  dame  had   put   me   in   the  pot,  I  should 
have  been  boiled  to  death  with  the  rest  of  the  beans." 

"And  I  too!" 
cried  the  straw. 
"My  fate  would 
have  been  quite 
as  sad  if  I  had 
not  slipped  from 
the  old  dame's 
hands.  All  my 
broth  -ers  went  up 
in  fire  and 
smoke — six-ty  at 
one  time." 

"What     shall 

we     do     now?" 

asked  the  coal 

"I    think," 

said   the   bean, 

' '  that     as     we 

have     all     had 

the  same  good 

luck  in  sav-ing  our  lives, 

we  had  best  stick  to-geth- 

er  as  friends,  and  be-fore 


THE  THREE    FRIENDS   START   ON    THEIR   TRIP 


THE  STRAW,  THE  COAL  AND  THE  BEAN  27 

we  get  in-to  worse  scrapes,  take  a  trip  to  strange  parts  and 
see  some  of  the  world." 

This  plan  pleased  the  coal  and  the  straw,  and  the  three  set 
out  at  once. 

They  had  not  gone  far  when  they  came  to  a  small  stream, 
and  they  were  at  loss  to  know  how  they  should  cross  it.  At 
last  the  straw  said,  "I  will  lay  my-self  a-cross  the  stream,  and 
you  can  walk  on  me  as  if  I  were  a  bridge." 

So  the  straw  stretched  him -self  from  one  bank  to  the  other. 
The  coal,  who  had  a  good  deal  of  fire  in  his  na-ture,  tripped 
out  on  the  new  bridge,  but  when  he  had  got  half  way,  he 
was  seized  with  fright,  stopped  short,  and  dared  not  take  a 
step  more.  The  straw  be-gan  to  burn,  broke  in  two,  and  fell 
in  the  stream,  and  the  coal  slipped  in  af-ter  him. 

The  bean  was  so  mean  as  to  laugh  at  their  bad  luck,  and 
it  laughed  so  hard  that  its  sides  burst.  Now  they  would  all 
have  been  done  for  a-like,  if  a  tai-lor  had  not  come  that  way. 
He  felt  sor-ry  for  the  bean,  so  he  sewed  it  up.  The  bean 
thanked  him,  but  as  he  had  used  black  thread  to  sew  with, 
from  that  day  to  this  each  bean  has  a  black  mark  on  it. 


28 


SNOW  WHITE  AND   RED   ROSE 

A  POOR  wid-ow  once  lived  with  her  two  daugh-ters  in  a 
small  lone-ly  house.  The  two  girls  were  so  fair,  and 
looked  so  much  like  ro-ses,  that  she  called  one  of  them  Snow 
White,  and  the  oth-er  Red  Rose. 

They  were   as   good   girls  as   could   be   found,  at   all   times 

cheer-ful,  and  full  of 
love  one  for  the  oth-er. 
When  they  went  out  to 
walk  they  would  go  hand 
in  hand ;  if  one  said, 
"We  will  nev-er  part," 
the  oth-er  would  say, 
"Nev-er,  so   long  as  we 

live,"  and  what  one  had 

was  al-ways  shared  with 

the  oth-er.     Oft-en  they 

went    to    the    woods    to    pick 

ber-ries,  but  no  harm  came  to 

them ;    the    hare   would   eat   a 

leaf  from  their  hands,  the  deer 

-  -    grazed   at   their    side,  and   the 

the  two  sisters.  birds   sat   on   the   boughs  near 


SNOW   WHITE   AND  RED   HOSE 


29 


them  and  sang  to  them.  They 
met  with  no  mis-hap ;  and  it 
night  came  on  be-fore  they  left 
the  woods,  they  had  no  fear,  but 
lay  down  on  the  moss  and  slept 
till  dawn. 

Snow  White  and  Red  Rose 
kept  the  house  so  clean  that  it 
was  a  treat  to  look  at  it.  In  the 
sum-mer  time,  Red  Rose  swept 
the  floor,  and  placed  a  fresh  bunch 
of  flow-ers  by  the  side  of  her 
moth-er's  bed  each  morn-ing  be 
fore  she  was  up ;  and  in  the  win- 
ter, Snow  White  made  the  fire 
and  hung  the  ket-tle  on  the  hook, 
where  it  shone  like  gold,  so  bright 
did  the  lit -tie  maid  keep  it  scoured. 

In  the  eve-ning,  when  the  snow 
fell,  the  moth-er  would  say,   "Go 
and  bolt  the  door,  Snow  White," 
and  then  they  would  all  sit  by  the  fire,  and  the  moth-er  would 
read  from  a  large  book,  while  the  girls  spun. 

One  eve-ning  a  knock  was  heard  at  the  door  as  if  some  one 
wished   to  get    in.      "Quick,    Red   Rose,"    said   the   moth-er, 


SNOW    WHITE    HANGING   THE    KETTLE 


30  SNOW  WHITE   AND  RED  ROSE 

"go   to   the   door;  it   may  be   some   trav-el-er   who   looks   for 
shel-ter. ' ' 

Red  Rose  o-pened  the  door  think-ing  to  see  a  poor  man, 
but  in  place  of  that  a  big  black  bear  poked  his  head  in.  Red 
Rose  screamed  and  ran  back,  but  the  bear  be-gan  to  talk,  and 
said,  ' '  Do  not  fear ;  I  will  not  hurt  you.  I  am  well  nigh 
dead  with  the  cold,  and  wish  to  come  in  and  warm  my-self 
by  your  fire." 

"You  poor  bear,"  said  the  moth-er,  "lie  down  by  the  fire, 
but  take  care  that  you  do  not  burn  your  fur." 

The  girls  soon  lost  their  fear  of  the  bear,  and  came  near 
him.  Then  the  bear  said,  "Get  the  broom,  chil-dren,  and 
brush  the  snow  from  my  fur." 

They  brought  the  broom,  and  brushed  his  fur  till  it  was 
quite  clean,  and  then  he  stretched  him-self  out  in  front  of  the 
fire.  At  last  the  girls  be-gan  to  play  with  him,  and  pulled 
him  a -bout  by  his  fur  as  if  he  were  a  big  dog. 

The  bear  staid  all  night,  and  at  dawn  the  girls  let  him  out, 
and  he  ran  off  o-ver  the  snow  to  the  woods. 

But  each  night  at  the  same  hour  he  came  back  to  the  house, 
lay  down  on  the  hearth,  and  let  the  chil-dren  play  with  him 
for  a  while.  They  grew  so  used  to  his  vis -its  that  the  door 
was  not  locked  till  he  came. 

One  day  in  spring,  he  said  to  Snow  White,  "I  must  go 
a-way  now,  and  I  shall  not  come  back  all  sum-mer." 


, 

'   > 

; 

.  ,--.  .1 

SNOW   WHITE   AND   KVA>   ROSE 


31 


'Where    do    you    mean    to 
go,  dear  bear?"  she  asked. 

"I   must  go   to   the  woods, 

and  guard   my  treas-ures  from 

the    dwarfs.      In    the    win-ter, 

when    the     frost    makes     the 

ground   hard,    they   must   stay 

down    in    the     earth ;    but    as 

soon  as   the  sun   melts   the   frost,  they 

work  their  way  up,  and  steal   all  they 

can  find ;  and  when  a  thing  is  once  in 

their   hands   it  is   hard   to  get  it  back 

a -gain. " 

Snow  White  felt  sad  to  part  with 
the  bear.  As  she  let  him  out  through 
the  door,  his  fur  caught  on  a  hook, 
and  a  piece  of  skin  was  torn  off.  Snow 
White  thought  she  saw  some-thing  gleam  like  gold  un-der  his 
skin,  but  was  not  sure,  for  the  bear  ran  quick-ly  off,  and  was 
soon  lost  sight  of  a-mong  the  trees. 

Some  time  af-ter  this,  the  girls  went  to  the  wood  to  get 
some  sticks  for  the  fire.  They  came  to  a  tree  which  lay  on 
the  path,  and  saw  that  some-thing  was  spring-ing  up  and  down 
on  one  of  the  boughs,  but  they  could  not  tell  what  it  was. 
When   they  came   near-er,    they   saw  a   lit-tle   dwarf,  with   an 


DWARFS    COMING    OUT   OF   THE 
GROUND. 


32  SNOW  WHITE  AND   RED   ROSE 

old  face,  and  a  beard  a  yard  long.  The  end  of  his  beard  had 
caught  in  a  cleft  in  the  tree,  and  he  sprang  a-bout  like  a  dog 
that  was  fast  to  a  string,  for  he  did  not  know  how  to  free 
him-self. 

He  glared  at  the  girls,  and  cried,  "Why  do  you  stand  there? 
Can't  you  come  and  help  me?" 

What  have  you  done  ? ' '  asked  Red  Rose. 
'You  stu-pid  goose!"  he  cried.  "I  wished  to  split  some 
wood  for  my  fire.  I  drove  in  a  wedge,  and  all  was  go-ing  on 
well,  when  the  wedge  slipped  out,  and  the  wood  closed  up  so 
quick-ly  that  my  hand-some  white  beard  caught,  and  I  can't 
draw  it  out.  There,  don't  stand  and  laugh,  you  milk-faced 
things  !     Whew  !  how  ug-ly  you  are  ! ' ' 

The  girls  tried  to  get  his  beard  out,  but  could  not.  At  last 
one  of  them  said,    "I  will  run  and  get  some  one  to  help  us." 

"Block  heads!"  he  snarled.  "Who  wants  more  peo-ple? 
You  are  two  more  than  I  want  now.  Can  you  think  of 
noth-ing  else? " 

"Don't  be  cross,"  said  Snow  White.  I  can  help  you,"  and 
she  took  her  shears  out  of  her  pock-et  and  cut  off  the  end  of 
his  beard. 

As  soon  as  the  dwarf  felt  that  he  was  free,  he  seized  a  sack 
full  of  gold  that  he  had  hid  a-mong  the  roots  of  the  tree,  put 
it  up  on  his  shoul-ders,  and  said,  "Smooth-faced  fools!  to  go 
and  cut  a  piece  ot  my  beard.    They  will  get  their  pay  for  it.  ' 


SNOW   WHITE   AND   11 KD   ROSK 


33 


^ 


Then  he  went  off  with-out  a  glance  at  the 

girls. 

One   day   Snow    White    and    Red    Rose 

went   to  catch   a   mess    of  fish.     As    they 

came  near  the  brook,  they  saw  some-thing 

like  a  great   lo-cust   hop-ping  on   the  bank 

as  if  it  were  go-ing  to  jump  in  the  stream. 

They    ran  to   it,  and  saw   it 

s*-^)   was   the   same   dwarf.       'Why 

'-yF-^  do  you  do  that?'"  asked   Red 

Rose.     "Do  you  wish  to  jump 
in  the  brook  ? ' 

"I    am    not    such    a   fool    as    to    wish   to   do 

that ! "  he   cried,   ' '  but  this   fish  wants  to   pull 


A    SACK    FULL    OF 
GOLD. 


me  m. 


He  had  sat  on  the  bank  to  fish,  and  his  beard  had  been 
caught  in  the  line,  so  that  when  a  large  fish  bit  at  the  bait, 
he  had  not  strength  to  draw  it  out,  but  in  place  of  that  the 
fish  was  pull-ing  him  in-to  the  water.  He  clung  to  the  reeds 
and  grass,  but  it  was  of  no  use,  for  the  fish  pulled  him  where 
it  would,  and  would  soon  have  drawn  him  in-to  the  wa-ter. 

The  girls  came  just  in  the  right  time.  They  held  him  back, 
and  tried  to  get  his  beard  loose,  but  they  could  not  do  so  as 
it  and  the  line  were  so  bad-ly  tangled.  There  was  noth-ing  to 
be  done  but  to  cut  off  an-oth-er  piece  of  the  beard. 


34  SNOW  WHITE  AND   RED  ROSE 

The  dwarf  was  in  a  great  rage.  "You  toad-stools  !"  he  cried. 
' '  Now  you  have  ru-ined  my  beard.  It  was  not  e-nough  that 
you  cut  it  once,  now  you  must  take  the  best  part  of  it.  I 
dare  not  show  my-self  to  my  own  folks  a -gain.  I  wish  you 
may  have  to  run  till  your  shoe-soles  come  off  for  this." 

Then  he  drew  a  bag  of  pearls  from  the  reeds,  and  slipped 
a-way  with-out  say-ing  an-oth-er  word. 

Not  long  af-ter  this,  the  moth-er  sent  the  girls  to  the  town 
to  buy  some  pins,  thread,  and  lace.  Their  road  passed  through 
a  field  on  which,  here  and  there,  lay  large  stones  and  rocks. 
Up  in  the  air  they  saw  a  great  bird  that  flew  round  and  round. 
It  sailed  low-er  and  low-er,  and  at  last  sank  down  by  one  of 
the  stones.  Just  then  the  girls  heard  a  scream,  and  run-ning 
up  to  the  bird,  they  saw  that  their  old  friend,  the  dwarf,  had 
been  seized  by  the  bird,  and  was  a-bout  to  be  car-ried  off. 

The  kind  girls  laid  hold  on  the  dwarf,  and  held  him  fast 
till  the  bird  gave  up  the  con-test  and  flew  oiT.  As  soon  as 
the  dwarf  got  o-ver  his  fright,  he  cried  in  his  sharp  voice 
' '  Could  you  not  have  held  me  more  gent-ly  ?  You  have  tugged 
at  my  fine  brown  coat  till  it  is  all  in  rags  on  my  back.' 
With  no  thanks,  he  picked  up  his  bag  of  gems,  and  slipped 
in-to  his  den  un-der  the  stone. 

The  girls  were  used  to  his  way,  and  did  not  mind  his  a-buse. 
but  went  on  to  town  and  bought  what  they  had  come  for. 
On   their  way  home   they  passed  through   the   same  field,  and 


SNOW  WHITE  AND  RED  ROSE  35 

came  on  the  dwarf  once  more.     He  thought  no  one  would  pass 

at  that  late  hour,  and  had  come  out  of  his  den  and  spread  out 

his    gems    on    the     ground. 

They  gleamed  and  shone  in 

the    set-ting    sun,    and    the 

girls    stopped    to   ad-mire 

them. 

He  be-gan  to  scold  and 
rage  at  them,  but  as  he 
went  on  with 
his  hard  wrords 
and  threats  a 
big  black  bear 
rushed  at  him 
with  a  growl. 
The     dwarf 

sprang  up  in  a  fright,  but   could   not   reach  his   den,   the    bear 
was  too  near. 

Then  he  fell  on  his  knees  to  the  bear  and  cried,  "O,  dear, 
good  Mr.  Bear,  spare  me  !  I  will  give  you  all  my  gems.  See, 
them  there !  Spare  my  life  !  Of  what  use  would  such  a  poor 
lit-tle  thing  be  to  you?  You  would  not  feel  me  be-tween  your 
teeth.  There  are  two  bad  girls ;  take  them.  They  are  as  fat 
as  quails — eat  them  in  place  of  me  J' 

But  the  bear  paid  no  heed  to  his  words ;  he  struck  him  one 


A    NARROW    ESCAPE    FROM    DROWNING. 


36 


SNOW  WHITE  AND  RED  ROSE 


THERE    STOOD    BEFORE   THEM    A    HANDSOME    YOUNG    MAN. 

blow  with  his  great  paw,  and  he  nev-er  stirred  a-gain.  When 
the  girls  saw  the  bear,  they  star-ted  to  run  a-way,  but  he 
called,  "Snow  White,  Red  Rose,  have  no  fear!  Wait,  and  I 
will  go  with  you." 

They  knew  his  voice  and  stopped,  but  when  he  came  up  to 
them,  his  rough  coat  of  fur  fell  off,  and  there  stood  be-fore 
them  a  hand-some  young  man,  dressed  in  rich  clothes. 

"I  am  a  king's  son,"  he  said.  "The  dwarf  be-witched  me, 
stole  my  treas-ures,  and  made  me  run   in  the  woods  as  a  wild 


KING   ROUG II BEARD  37 

bear  till    I  should   be  set   free   by  his   death.     Now  he   has  re- 
ceived his  well-de-served  re-ward." 

They  went  home,  and  not  long  after  Snow  White  was  mar- 
ried to  the  prince,  and  Red  Rose  to  his  broth-er.  All  the 
treas-ures  which  the  dwarf  had  gath-ered  in  his  den  were 
shared  be-tween  them,  and  they  lived  in  great  joy  and  peace 
for  many  years. 


KING   ROUGHBEARD 

THERE  was  once  a  prin-cess  who  was  ver-y  fair,  but  so 
proud  that  she  thought  no  man  was  good  e-nough  to  be 
her  hus-band.  Kings  and  king's  sons  came  to  woo  her,  but 
she  met  them  with  scorn,   and  made  game  of  them  all. 

Once  the  king,  her  father,  gave  a  feast  to  which  he  asked 
all  the  young  men  he  knew  who  were  fit  to  be  the  hus-band 
of  a  prin-cess.  When  they  came  they  were  set  in  a  row,  and 
the  prin-cess  was  led  down  the  line,  to  make  a  choice ;  but  she 
laughed  at  each  one  in  turn.  The  one  that  she  made  the 
most  fun  of  was  a  good  young  king,  whom  she  named  King 
Rough-beard,  be-cause  his  chin  was  not  straight,  and  he  had 
a  rough  beard. 

Her  fath-er  was  an-gry  with  her ;  and  when  she  sent  the 
young  men  all  a-way,  told   her  she  should   have  to  mar-ry  the 


38  KING   ROUGH   BEARD 

the  first  tramp  that  came  to  the  gate.  The  next  day,  a  tramp, 
who  sang  in  the  streets  for  what  folks  would  give  him,  came 
to  the  gate.  The  king  called  him  in,  and  sent  for  the  prin-cess, 
and  in  spite  of  her  tears  made  her  mar-ry  the  street  sing-er, 
and  then  turned  them  both  out  of  the  house. 

So  the  tramp  led  her  off  with  him,  and  she  had  to  trudge 
a-long  the  road  on  foot.  When  they  reached  the  next  king- 
dom, which  was  that  of  the  prince  she  had  called  King  Rough 
Beard,  she  sighed  and  wept,  and  said,  "Oh  that  I  had  but 
mar-ried  King  Rough  Beard  when  he  wished  me  to!" 

The  tramp  grew  cross  at  this,  and  said,  "Stop  that!  It 
does  not  please  me  that  you  should  wish  you  had  mar-ried 
some  one  else.     Am  I  not  good  e-nough  for  you?" 

By  and  by  they  came  to  a  small,  mean  hut,  and  there  they 
stopped.  "This  is  my  house,"  said  the  tramp,  and  then  the 
prin-cess  wished  a -gain  that  she  had  mar-ried  King  Rough 
Beard. 

The  tramp  told  her  she  must  keep  house  and  cook  the  meals 
for  him ;  but  the  prin-cess  had  not  learned  how  to  do  these 
things,  and  her  hus-band  had  to  do  them  him -self. 

At  length  he  told  her  she  must  earn  some-thing,  and  he  set 
her  at  work  mak-ing  bas-kets,  but  her  hands  were  too  soft  to 
bend  the  hard  twigs.  Then  he  told  her  to  spin,  but  the  coarse 
thread  cut  her  fin-gers  and  made  them  bleed.  When  he  saw 
this,  he  sent  her  to  the  mar-ket  with  pots  and  pans  to  sell. 


KING  ROUGH   BEABD 


39 


'THIS    IS    MY    HOUSE."    SAID    THE   TRAMP. 


Her  pride  made  this  a  hard  task  for  the  prin-cess,  but  she 
was  so  fair  to  look  at  that  folks  bought  from  her.  One  day, 
though,  a  drunk-en  sol-dier  rode  down  the  street  on  his  horse, 


40 


KING   ROUGH  BEARD 


and  plunged  right  in-to  the  midst  of  her  wares,  and  broke  the 
whole  of  them. 

"I  see  you  are  not  fit  for  such  work,"  said  her  hus-band. 
"But  I  will  try  one  thing  more.  I  have  heard  that  they  need 
a  maid  in  the  king's  kitch-en,  and  I  will  try  to  get  the  place 
for  you," 

They  took  the  prin-cess  for  maid 
in  the  king's  kit-chen,  and  for  pay 
she  had  to  take  home  the  scraps  of 
food  that  were  left. 

She  had  not   been  there  long  when 

the  king  gave  a  grand  ball.     The  poor 

prin-cess  went  up-stairs  to  look  at  the 

guests   from  the   door.     As  she   stood 

there,    the    king    saw    her, 

and  seized    her   hand,    and 

asked    her    to   dance      She 

drew  back   in  a  fright,  for 

it  was  none  else  than  King 

Rough  Beard  him -self,  who 

had  once  been   re-fused  by 

her  with  scorn. 

She  tried  to  get  a -way, 
but  the  king  drew  her  in- 
to   the    ball-roon.      In    the 


-  €> 

THE    DRUNKEN   SOLDIER, 


KING   ROUGH   BEARD  41 

strife  the  band  broke  that  held  a  bag  in  which  were  her  scraps 
of  food,  and  they  were  all  thrown  out  on  the  ball-room  floor. 

She  heard  all  the  guests  laugh,  and  rushed  from  the  room 
in  shame.  On  the  steps  a  man  caught  her,  and  brought  her 
back.  When  she  looked  at  him,  she  saw  it  was  King  Rough 
Beard  a -gain. 

He  looked  at  her  kind-ly  and  said,  "Do  not  fear.  I  and 
the  tramp  whom  you  mar-ried  are  one.  My  love  for  you  led 
me  to  dis-guise  my-self.  I  was  al-so  the  rude  sol-dier  that 
broke  your  wares.  All  this  has  been  done  to  cure  you  of  your 
pride. 

The  prin-cess  wept,  and  said,  "I  have  done  a  great  wrong, 
and  am  not  wor-thy  to  be  your  wife." 

But  the  king  said,  "Do  not  weep.  Those  sad  days  are  at 
an  end;  now  we  will  have  our  wed-ding  feast." 

Then  the  maids  came  and  dressed  her  in  rich  robes,  and 
she  was  led  out  to  meet  her  fa-ther,  who  had  come  with  his 
whole  court  to  wish  her  joy.  Thus  her  trials  came  to  an  end, 
and  nev-er  a-gain  was  she  proud  or  haugh-ty. 


42 


THE   FROG    PRINCE 

N  OLD  times,  when  folks 
had  but  to  wish  for  things 
to  get  them,  there  lived  a 
king  who  had  three  fair  girls. 
Close  by  the  king's  cas-tle  lay 
a  dark  wood  where  there  was 
a  deep  well  or  spring.  One 
hot  day  the  young-est  girl  went  to  the 
wood  and  sat  down  by  the  cool  well. 
When  she  tired  of  sit-ting  still,  she  took 
out  a  ball  of  gold,  which  was  one 
of  her  toys,  and  be-gan  to  toss  it  up  in 
the  air  and  catch  it. 
But  one  time  that  she  tossed  it  up,  she  missed  it,  and  it 
rolled  in-to  the  well.  She  felt  so  bad  that  she  wept ;  but  in 
the  midst  of  her  weep-ing  she  heard  a  voice  say,  "Why  do 
you  weep,  Prin-cess?  Your  tears  would  melt  a  heart  of  stone." 
She  saw  that  it  was  a  frog  that  spoke,  and  she  said,  "Oh, 
is  that  you,  Mr.  Frog?  I  weep  for  my  gold  ball,  which  fell 
in-to  this  well." 

"Do  not  weep,"  said  the  frog.      "I  can  bring  up  your  ball, 


THE   PROG  PRINCE  43 

but   what    will  you  give 
me  if  I  do  so  ? " 

"Just  what  you 
wish,"  said  she;  "my 
gowns,  my  pearls  or  my 
gold  crown." 

"I  do  not  care  for 
those  things,"  said  the 
frog.  "But  if  you  will 
love  me,  and  let  me  sit 
at  meals  with  you,  and  !  '^lilP^n' ' 
eat  from  your  plate,  and  jplV\ 
drink  out  of  your  cup, 
and  put  me  to  sleep  in 
your  silk -en  bed,  I  will 
bring  it  up  for  you." 

"Oh,  yes,"  she  said, 
"I  will  do  all  you  ask." 

So  the  frog  sank  out 
of  sight  in  the  well,  and 
soon  came   up  with  the  the  princess  and  the  frog. 

ball  in  his  mouth,  and  tnrew  it  on  the  grass.  The  prin-cess 
was  so  full  of  joy  to  see  it  that  she  snatched  it  up  and  ran 
off  with  it. 

'  Wait,  wait,"  cried  the  frog.     "Take  me  with  you,  I  can't 


44  THE   FROG  PRINCE 

run  as  fast  as  you."  But  it  was  of  no  use,  for  croak  as  he 
might  she  would  not  wait,  but  made  haste  home,  and  soon 
put  the  poor  frog  quite  out  of  her  mind. 

The  next  day,  when  she  sat  down  to  eat  with  the  king  and 
his  court,  a  knock  was  heard  at  the  door,  and  a  voice  cried, 
"Prin-cess,  let  me  in!" 

At  this  she  ran  to  the  door  to  see  who  was  there,  and  when 
she  o-pened  it,  she  saw  the  frog.  She  turned  pale,  and  shut 
the  door,  and  went  back  to  her  seat.  The  king  saw  that  she 
was  in  a  fright,  and  he  said,  ' '  My  child,  what  ails  you  ?  Who 
is  at  the  door  ? ' ' 

"It  is  a  frog,"  said  she. 

' '  What  does  the  frog  want  of  you  ? ' ' 

The  prin-cess  had  to  tell  the  king  what  the  frog  had  done 
for  her.  "You  must  keep  your  word,"  said  the  king.  "Go 
to  the  door  and  let  the  frog  in." 

So  she  let  the  frog  in,  and  he  hopped  straight  to  her  chair, 
and  said,  "Lift  me  up  by  you."  When  she  had  done  this, 
he  ate  from  her  plate,  and  drank  out  of  her  cup,  to  her  great 
dis-gust. 

Then  the  frog  said  he  was  tired,  and  asked  the  prin-cess  to 
put  him  to  sleep  in  her  own  silk-en  bed.  Then  she  cried,  for 
she  did  not  wish  to  put  the  cold,  wet  frog  in  her  neat  bed. 
But  the  king  told  her  she  must. 

She  took  him  up-stairs,  and  set  him  on  the  floor ;  but  when 


THE  GOOSE  GIRL  45 

lie  still  said  she  must  put  him  in  her  bed,  she  was  in  such  a 
rage  that  she  seized  the  frog  and  flung  him  at  the  wall. 
"Now  be  still,  you  hor-rid  frog,"  she  said. 

But  as  he  fell  to  the  floor,  he  was  no  more  a  frog,  but  a 
hand-some  young  prince.  He  told  the  prin-cess  that  he  had 
been  changed  in -to  a  frog  by  a  witch,  and  no  one  could  set 
him  free  but  her -self. 

At   the  wish  of  the  king,  the   prince   stayed  at   the   castle 
Of  course  he  and  the  princess  fell  in  love  with  each  oth-er  at 
once,  and  be  fore  long  they  were  mar-ried. 


THE   GOOSE   GIRL 

-pHERE  once  lived  an  old  queen  who  had  one  child,  a  fair, 
**■  sweet  girl.  This  prin-cess  was  to  wed  a  king's  son  who 
lived  a  great  way  off.  When  the  time  came,  the  queen  gave 
her  much  gold  and  gems,  and  a  maid  to  wait  on  her  and  take 
her  to  the  prince  she  was  to  wed.  To  each  she  gave  a  horse 
to  ride,  and  that  of  the  prin-cess  was  named  Fa-la-da,  and 
it  could  talk. 

But  the  maid  was  false,  and  on  the  way  she  made  the  prin- 
cess get  off  her  horse,  and  change  her  rich  clothes  for  her  own 
plain  ones.  Then  by  threats  that  she  would  kill  her  if  she 
would  not   do   so,  she   made   the   prin-cess  take   an   oath  that 


4ft.  THE  GOOSE  GIRL 

she  would  not  tell  of  the  change  that  had  been  made.  When 
they  came  to  the  end  of  their  ride,  the  king's  son  came  out  to 
meet  them,  and  took  the  maid  from  her  horse  as  if  she  were 
his  bride  that  was  to  be.  He  led  her  up  the  steps,  while  the 
true  prin-cess  was  left  in  the  court-yard.  The  king  saw  her 
there,  and  as  he  saw  how  sweet  and  fair  her  face  was,  and 
how  soft  and  white  her  hands,  he  went  in  haste  to  ask  the 
bride  who  it  was  she  had  brought  with  her. 

"Oh!  I  brought  her  with  me  to  serve  me  on  the  road," 
said  the  false  bride.  "Give  her  some  work  to  do,  so  that  she 
may  not  waste  her  time." 

The  king  knew  of  no  work  to  give  her  but  to  help  a  boy 
named  Karl,  whom  he  had  to  take  care  of  geese.  So  the  real 
prin-cess  was  made  a  goose  girl. 

The  false  bride  was  in  fear  that  the  horse,  Fa -la -da,  would 
tell  on  her,  and  she  soon  asked  the  prince  to  have  it  put  to 
death.  The  prince  told  a  man  to  kill  the  horse,  but  the  real 
prin-cess  heard  of  it,  and  gave  the  man  a  piece  of  gold  to  hang 
the  head  of  the  horse  in  an  arch -way  through  which  she  had 
to  drive  the  geese  each  morn-ing. 

The  next  morn-ing,  as  she  and  Karl  passed  through  the  arch' 
way,  she  said  to  the  head, 

"O,  Fa-la-da,  hang-ing  high!" 
and  the  head  said, 


THE  GOOSE   GIRL 


47 


"O,  young  prin-cess,  pass-ing  by, 
If  thy  fate  thy  moth-er  knew, 
Her  fond  heart  would  break  for  you  ! 

They  went  on  to  a 
field  where  the  geese  fed 
all  day,  and  the  prin- 
cess sat  down  and  be- 
gan to  comb  her  hair. 
It  looked  like  pure  gold, 
and  Karl  wished  to  pull 
some  of  it  out.  Then 
the  prin-cess  sang, 

"Blow,  blow,  wind  blow; 
Take  Karl's  hat  in  the  air; 
And  do  not  let  him  catch  it 
Till  I  have  combed  my  hair." 

A  strong  wind  did 
take  Karl's  hat,  and  he 
had  to  run  to  catch  it. 
When  he  came  back, 
the  hair  was  all  combed 
and  put  up.  Then  Karl 
was  vexed,  and  would 
not  speak  to  the  goose  girl.  The  next  day  the 
took  place,  and   Kar'    was   so   vexed   that   when 


same   things 
they  reached 


48  THE  GOOSE  GIRL 

home,  he  went  to  the  king  and  told  him  how  the  head  of  the 
horse  spoke  to  the  goose  girl,  and  how  she  made  the  wind 
blow  his  hat  off  and  he  had  to  run  to  catch  it.  The  king  told 
Kan  to  go  with  her  to  the  fields  next  day,  and  he  him -self 
went  Jtnd  sat  in  the  dark  arch  and  heard  what  the  horse's 
head  said. 

Then  he  went  aft-er  them  to  the  fields,  and  hid  in  a  bush, 
and  there  saw  with  his  own  eyes  the  goose  girl  and  boy  drive 
in  their  geese,  and  in  a  short  time  the  girl  took  down  her 
hair,  that  shone  like  gold,  and  he  heard  her  say, 

"  Blow,  blow,  wind,  blow ; 
Take  Karl's  hat  in  the  air ; 
And  do  not  let  him  catch  it 
Till  I  have  combed  my  hair." 

Then  the  king  felt  a  gust  of  wind  come,  which  took  off 
Karl's  hat,  so  that  he  had  to  run  a  long  way  to  catch  it ; 
while  the  goose  girl  combed  out  her  hair,  and  put  it  up  in 
braids,  be-fore  he  could  get  back. 

The  king  went  home,  and  that  night  sent  for  the  goose  girl, 
and  told  her  all  he  had  seen  and  heard,  and  asked  her  what  it 
meant. 

"That  I  dare  not  tell  you,"  she  said.  "My  heart  is  full  of 
woe,  but  I  can  tell  the  cause  to  no  one,  for  I  had  to  take  an 
oath  that  I  would  not  do  so." 

"If  you  will  not  tell  it  to  me,"  said  the  king,    "tell  it  to 


THE   GOOSE  GIRL  49 

that  fire-place."  And  then  he  left  her.  The  prin-cess  crept  in 
the  fire-place,  and  be-gan  to  weep  and  pour  out  her  heart. 
' '  Here  sit  I, ' '  she  said,  ' '  the  child  of  a  king,  yet  a  false  maid 
took  my  royal  clothes  from  me,  and  took  my  place  as  bride  at 
the  side  of  the  prince,  while  I  must  go  out  and  watch  the 
geese.  Oh,  if  my  moth-er  knew  of  this  it  would  break  her 
heart ! ' ' 

But  the  king  had  stood  near  the  door  and  heard  all  she  said. 
He  told  her  to  come  out,  and  had  her  dressed  in  rich  clothes, 
and  then  she  was  so  fair  it  was  joy  to  look  at  her. 

The  king  sent  for  his  son  and  told  him  that  he  had  the 
wrong  bride,  while  the  true  bride  was  here,  she  who  had  been 
the  goose  girl. 

The  prince  was  glad  when  he  saw  how  sweet  and  good  she 
was,  and  a  great  feast  was  at  once  laid.  The  true  bride  was 
placed  on  one  side  of  the  prince,  and  the  false  one  on  the 
oth-er.  The  false  one  was  so  puffed  up  with  pride  that  she 
did  not  know  the  true  one.  When  all  were  through  at  the 
feast,  the  king  told  the  tale  the  prin-cess  had  told  in  the  fire- 
place, and  then  he  asked  the  false  bride  what  should  be  done 
to  one  that  had  been  so  wick-ed. 

The  false  bride  did  not  see  that  it  was  a  trap  for  her,  and 
she  said,  "Such  a  one  should  be  put  in  a  cask  with  spikes  in 
it,  and  dragged  up  and  down  the  streets  by  hor-ses  till  she  is 
dead." 


50  RAPUNZEL 

"You  are  that  one,"  said  the  king,  "and  as  you  have  said, 
so  shall  it  be  done." 

Then  the  prince  wed  his  true  bride,  and  they  lived  in  great 
joy  and  peace. 


RAPUNZEL 


THERE  lived  once  a  man  and  his  wife  who  wished  much 
to  have  a  child.  At  the  back  of  their  house  was  a  gar- 
den full  of  choice  green  food,  but  there  was  a  high  wall  all 
round  it  and  no  one  dared  to  come  near  it,  for  a  witch  owned 
it,  and  all  were  in  fear  that  she  might  cast  a  spell  on  them. 

One  day  the  wife  saw  some  let-tuce  in  the  gar-den,  and  it 
looked  so  fresh  and  green  that  she  longed  for  some  of  it.  She 
wished  more  and  more  for  it  each  day,  and  at  last  grew  quite 
sad  for  want  of  it.  The  man  saw  how  she  pined,  and  said, 
"What  ails  you,  dear  wife?" 

"Oh,  I  shall  die,"  said  she,  "if  I  do  not  get  some  of  that 
let-tuce  that  grows  back  of  the  house." 

"I  will  get  some,"  said  he,   "cost  what  it  will." 

So  that  night  he  climbed  o-ver  the  wall  and  got  some.  The 
wife  liked  it  so  well  that  she  longed  for  more,  and  to  give  her 
rest  the  man  went  a -gain  to  get  some.  But  this  time  the  old 
witch  caught   him,    and    said,    "How   dare    you    come    in    my 


RAPUNZEL  51 

place    and    steal    my   lettuce?'      You    shall    pay    for    this  I " 

"Oh,"  said  he,  "do  not  be  so  hard  on  me.  I  had  to  do  it, 
for  my  wife  wished  so  much  for  it  that  she  would  have  died 
if  she  had  not  got  it." 

"Well,  if  that  is  true,"  said  the  witch,  "you  may  have  all 
you  like,  but  you  must  give  me  a  pledge  that  you  will  do  one 
thing.  If  you  should  have  a  child,  you  must  give  it  to  me. 
I  will  do  well  by  it,  and  give  it  as  good  care  as  your  wife  would. ' ' 

"In  his  fear  he  said  he  would  give  the  child  to  the  witch. 
When  weeks  had  passed,  a  child  was  born  to  them,  and  the 
witch  came  and  claimed  it.  She  called  it  Ra-pun-zel,  and  took 
it  off  with  her. 

Ra-pun-zel  grew  to  be  a  fair  girl,  and  had  hair  of  great  length. 
When  she  was  twelve  years  old,  the  witch  shut  her  up  in  a 
tow-er  that  had  no  stairs,  and  but  one  small  win-dow  at  the 
top.  When  the  witch  wished  to  get  in,  she  would  say,  "Ra- 
pun-zel,  Ra-pun-zel!  let  down  your  hair."  Then  Ra-pun-zel 
would  let  her  long  hair  down  out  of  the  win-dow,  and  the 
witch  would  climb  up  by  it. 

Some  years  went  by,  and  one  day  a  young  prince  came  that 
way,  and  heard  such  a  sweet  voice  sing  from  the  tow-er  that 
he  had  to  stop.  It  was  Ra-pun-zel,  who  sang  that  way  to 
pass  the  time.  The  prince  tried  to  get  in -to  the  tow-er,  but 
he  could  find  no  door. 

He   went   home,   but   the   song   still   rang   in   his   ears,    and 


52 


RAPUNZEL 


he  came  each  day  to  hear  it. 
Once,  when  he  stood  be  hind  a 
tree,  he  saw  the  witch  come, 
and  cry,  "Ra-pun-zel,  Ra-pun 
zel !  let  down  your  hair. ' '  Then 
he  saw  the  hair  let  down,  and 
the  witch  climb  up  by  it. 

The  next  day,  he  came  to  the 
tow-er  and  called,  "Ra-pun-zel, 
Ra-pun-zel !  let  down  your  hair." 

She  let  her  hair  down,  and 
the  prince  at  once  climbed  up. 
Ra-pun-zel  was  in  great  fear  when 
she  saw  the  young  man.  But 
the  prince  spoke  to  her  kind-ly, 
and  told  her  how  he  had  heard 
her  sing,  and  that  he  could  not 
rest  till  he  had  seen  her. 

Ra-pun-zel  lost  her  fear,  and 
when  he  asked  her  if  she  would 
be  his  wife,  she  thought  ''He 
is  bet-ter  than  the  old  witch, 
and  she  put  her  hand  in  his, 
and  said,  "Yes,  I  will  go  with 
you,  but  how  am  I  to  get  down? 


RAPUNZEL  53 

Each   time   you   come,  bring   with   you  a  skein  of  silk,  and  I 
will  weave  it  in-to  a  rope,  and  go  down  by  it." 

The  prince  said  he  would  do  this,  and  then  climbed  down 
and  went  home.  But  the  old  witch  had  seen  him  go.  She 
was  in  a  rage,  and  as  soon  as  she  had  climbed  up  in  the 
tow-er,  she  seized  Ra-pun-zel's  long  hair,  took  a  pair  of  shears, 
and  snip  !  snap  !  off  fell  the  fine  braids  to  the  floor.  Then  she 
sent  her  off  to  a  hut  in  a  lone-ly  place,  where  she  could  see 
no  one.  When  the  prince  came  the  next  day,  the  old  witch 
hung  out  Ra-pun-zel's  hair  for  him  to  climb  up  by.  When  he 
got  to  the  top,  she  cried,  "Ah,  the  bird  has  left  the  nest ! 
The  cat  took  her  off,  and  will  now  scratch  your  eyes  out ! ' 
The  prince  was  full  of  grief  when  he  heard  these  words,  and 
in  his  des-pair  sprang  from  the  win-dow.  He  was  not  killed, 
but  the  thorns  on  which  he  fell  put  out  his  eyes. 

He  roamed  through  the  woods  for  a  long  time,  mourn -ing 
for  his  lost  bride,  and  eat -ing  naught  but  roots  and  wild  fruit. 
At  last  he  came  to  the  hut  where  Ra-pun-zel  lived  in  want 
and  grief. 

As  he  drew  near  the  place,  he  heard  a  voice  that  he  thought 
he  knew.  He  went  to  it,  and  Ra-pun-zel  knew  him,  and  ran 
to  him,  and  threw  her  arms  round  his  neck  and  wept.  Two 
of  her  tears  fell  on  his  eyes,  and  his  sight  at  once  came  back 

He  led  Ra-pun-zel  a-way  to  his  king-dom,  where  they  were 
received  with  great  joy,  and  lived  long  and  hap-py  lives. 


54 


THE  TOWN  MUSICIANS   OF  BREMEN 

THERE  was  once  an  ass  who  for  a  long  term  of  years  had 
to  take  the  bags  to  the  mill.  When  his  strength  at  last 
gave  out,  the  man  who  owned  him  thought  to  sell  him  for  his 
hide,  but  the  ass  saw  that  an  ill  wind  was  blow-ing,  so  one 
day  he  set  out  on  the  road  to  Bre-men,  where  he  thought  he 
might  play  mu-sic  in  the  town  band. 

He  had  gone  but  a  mile  or  so  when  he  met  a  dog,  who 
gasped  as  if  he  had  run  a  long  way.  "Why  do  you  pant  so?'* 
asked  the  ass. 

"A-las!"  said  the  dog,  "Now  that  I  am  too  old  and  weak 
to  join  in  the  hunt,  my  mas-ter  wished  to  kill  me,  so  I  ran 
a-way ;  but  how  am  I  to  earn  my  bread?" 

"Would  you  like  to  know?  I  am  on  my  way  to  Bre-men 
to  join  the  town  band.  You  might  go  with  me,  and  take  up 
mu-sic  too.  I  will  play  the  lute,  and  you  can  beat  the  drum." 
The  dog  said  "Yes"  to  this,  and  they  went  on.  They  soon 
met  a  cat  that  looked  very  sad.  "WTiat  ails  you?"  said  the 
ass. 

"How  can  one  feel  gay  that  has  had  a  close  shave  for  his 
life?"  said  the  cat.  "I  am  old,  and  I  like  bet-ter  to  sit  by 
the  fire  than  to  go  out  and  hunt  mice,  so  my  mis -tress  tried 
to  drown  me.     I  got  off,  but  how  am  I  to  find  food?" 


THE   TOWN    MUSICIANS   OF   BREMEN  55 

"Come  with  us  to  Bre-men, 

and  join  the  town  band,"  said 

the  ass. 

The  cat  thought  the  plan  a 

good  one,  and  went  with  them. 

As    they    passed    a    farm-yard, 

they   saw  a   cock  that   crowed 

with    all    his    might.      "Why 

do  you  make  so  much  noise  ? ' ' 

asked  the  ass. 

"Why,  I  just  heard  the  cook 

say  she  meant   to   make  soup 

of  me    to-day;   so   I    mean   to 

crow  at  the   top   of  my  voice 

as  long  as  I  can." 

"You  have  a  fine  voice," 
said  the  ass.  "Come  with  us 
to  Bre-men,  and  join  the  town 
band. 

The   cock  was   pleased,    and 
soon  the  four  were  on  the  way. 
But  they  could  not  reach  Bre- 
men in  one  day,  so  when  night  THE  FOUR  musicians. 
came  they  stopped  in  a  wood  to  rest.    The  cock  flew  to  the  top 
of  a  tree,  and   from   there   he  saw  a  light  in  a  house  near  by. 


56  THE  TOWN    MUSICIANS  OF   BREMEN 

He  told  the  oth-ers,  and  the  ass  said  they  ought  to  go  and 
see  what  sort  of  place  it  was.  They  went,  and  as  the  ass  was 
the  tall-est,  he  looked  in  and  saw  some  men  at  a  ta-ble  spread 
with  fine  food. 

They  all  wished  for  some  of  the  food,  but  did  not  know  how 
to  get  it.  At  last  they  thought  of  a  plan.  The  ass  was  to 
put  his  fore-feet  on  the  win-dow  sill,  the  dog  to  spring  on  the 
back  of  the  ass,  the  cat  on  the  dog,  and  the  cock  was  to  perch 
on  the  cat's  head.  Then  the  ass  was  to  bray,  the  dog  to  bark, 
the  cat  to  howl,  and  the  cock  to  crow,  all  at  once.  They  did 
this,  and  then  sprang  through  the  win-dow,  and  made  the 
glass  fly  on  all  sides. 

The  men,  who  were  a  gang  of  thieves,  sprang  up  in  great 
fright,  and  fled  for  their  lives.  Then  the  four  friends  sat  down 
and  ate  up  the  food.  When  all  was  gone,  they  put  out  the 
light,  and  lay  down  to  rest.  The  ass  lay  down  in  the  yard, 
the  dog  near  the  door,  the  cat  by  the  fire,  and  the  cock 
perched  on  a  beam. 

When  it  got  late  one  of  the  thieves  stole  back  to  the  house; 
and  when  he  saw  no  light,  and  heard  no  noise,  he  went  in. 
He  saw  the  cat's  eyes,  as  they  shone  in  the  dark,  and  thought 
they  were  live  coals,  so  he  stooped  to  light  a  match  by  them. 
But  the  cat  flew  at  his  face  and  scratched  him,  so  he  ran  out 
at  the  door.  But  be-fore  he  got  out,  the  dog  sprang  up  and 
bit  his  leg.     As   he   passed   the   ass   in  the  yard,  the   ass  gave 


THE  TOWN    MUSICIANS  OF   BREMEN 


57 


THE   GANG    OF    THIEVES. 


him  a  kick,  and  all  this  time  the  cock  kept  up  a  loud  ' '  Cock- 
a  doo-dle-doo ! "  and  clapped  his  wings  with  all  his  might. 

The  thief  was  scared  near  to  death,  and  ran  to  tell  the  tale 
to  his  friends.  "A  witch  sits  in  the  house,"  he  said.  "She 
spat  at  me,  and  scratched  me ;  a  man  stood  by  the  door  and 
ran  a  long  knife  in- to  my  leg ;  and  out  in  the  yard  lay  a  black 
beast   that   struck    me   with  a  club,  while   up  on   the   roof  sat 


58  THE  THREE   SPINNERS 

the  judge,   who   cried,   '  Bring  me   the   rogue ; '  so  I  got  off  as 
fast  as  I  could." 

From  that  time  the  thieves  would  not  go  near  the  house, 
and  as  the  four  friends  liked  it  well,  they  made  it  their  home 
for  years. 


THE  THREE  SPINNERS 

THERE  was  once  a  pret-ty  girl  who  did  not  like  to  spin, 
and  her  moth-er  could  not  force  her  to  do  it,  try  as  she 
might.  At  last  the  moth-er  grew  so  cross  that  she  struck  the 
girl,  and  she  set  up  in  a  loud  cry  that  could  be  heard  in  the 
street. 

Just  then  the  queen  went  by,  and  when  she  heard  the  girl's 
screams  she  stopped  and  asked  the  moth-er  why  she  beat  her 
girl  so  hard.  The  moth-er  did  not  like  to  tell  her  that  the 
girl  would  not  spin,  so  she  said:  "I  whip  her  be-cause  she 
will  not  cease  to  spin.  She  is  al-ways  at  the  wheel,  and  we 
are  too  poor  to  buy  flax  for  her." 

"I  like  to  hear  the  wheel  hum,"  said  the  queen.  "Let  her 
go  with  me  to  my  cas-tle ;  I  have  lots  of  flax,  and  she  can 
spin  all  she  wants  to." 

The  moth-er  was  pleased  with  this  plan,  and  the  girl  went 
with   the   queen.     When  they   reached   the   cas-tle,    the   queen 


THE   THREE   SPINNERS  59 

took  her  to  three  rooms  full  of  flax,  and  said,  "Spin  this  flax, 
and  when  it  is  done  you  shall  be  the  bride  of  my  son,  the 
prince." 

The  girl  was  in  a  fright,  for  she  knew  she  could  not  spin 
the  flax  in  her  life-time,  e-ven  if  she  worked  day  and  night. 
As  soon  as  the  queen  left  her  she  be-gan  to  weep,  and  she 
kept  this  up  for  three  days.  On  the  third  day  the  queen  came 
in,  and  knew  not  what  to  think  when  she  found  that  the  girl 
had  not  yet  spun  as  much  as  one  thread.  But  the  girl  made 
a  plea  that  she  had  felt  so  sad  to  leave  her  home  that  she 
could  not  work.  The  queen  was  pleased  that  she  loved  her 
home,  but  said  she  must  now  be-gin  to  work. 

When  the  girl  was  a-lone,  she  knew  not  what  to  do.  She 
went  to  the  win-dow,  and  there  she  saw  three  wom-en.  The 
first  one  had  a  broad  flat  foot,  the  next  one  had  a  large  lip, 
and  the  third  had  a  broad  thumb.  They  asked  her  what  was 
the  mat-ter,  and  she  told  them.  They  said  they  would  help 
her  if  she  would  ask  them  to  her  feast  on  the  day  she  was  to 
wed  the  prince,  call  them  her  aunts,  and  let  them  sit  at  her 
table. 

"With  all  my  heart,"  said  the  girl.  "Come  in  and  be-gin 
the  work  at  once." 

She  let  the  strange  wom-en  in,  and  they  be-gan  to  spin. 
One  drew  the  thread  and  worked  the  wheel  with  her  foot,  an- 
oth-er   wet   the   thread,   while   the   third   twist-ed   it   with   her 


60 


THE   THREE   SPINNERS 


WHY    HAVE   YOU    SO    BROAD    A    FOOT?' 


thumb.     They  had  soon  spun  all  the  flax  in  the  three  rooms, 
and  then  went  their  ways. 

When  the  queen  found  the  flax  all  spun,  she  set  the  day  for 
the  wed -ding.  The  girl  asked  if  her  three  aunts  might  come, 
and  the  queen  said  they  might.    So  on  the  day  of  the  feast  the 


THE   SEVEN    CROWS  61 

three  wom-en  came,  dressed  in  fine  clothes.  When  the  prince 
saw  them,  he  said,  "Oh,  how  came  you  to  have  such  ug-ly 
aunts?" 

He   went  up  to  the  one  with  the   broad   foot  and  asked, 
"Why  have  you  so  broad  a  foot?" 

"From  treading  the  wheel,"  she  said. 
'Why  have  you  so  big  a  lip?"  he  asked  the  next  one. 

"From  lick  ing  the  thread,"  she  said. 

'  'And  why  is  your  thumb  so  large  ? "  he  asked  the  third  one. 

"From  twist-ing  the  thread,"  she  said. 

The  young  prince  then  said  that  his  pret-ty  bride  from  hence 
forth  must  not  touch  a  spin-ning  wheel. 

This  was  the  girl's  re-ward  for  having  kept  her  word. 


THE  SEVEN  CROWS 

THERE  was  once  a  man  who  had  sev-en  boys,  but  no  girl. 
At  last  a  girl  was  born,  but  she  was  so  weak  and  small 
that  it  was  thought  best  to  bap-tize  her  at  once,  lest  she 
should  die.  The  sev=en  boys  were  sent  to  the  well  for  wa-ter. 
Each  wished  to  draw  the  wa-ter,  and  in  their  strife  the  pail 
fell  [in-to  the  well.  Then  they  feared  to  go  in  the  house,  and 
the  fa-ther  grew  cross  be-cause  they  did  not  come,  "I  wish 
they  would  all  change  to  crows,"  he  said;  and  the  words  were 


62 


THE   SEVEN    CROWS 


EACH    STAR    SAT   ON    A   GRAND   SEAT   OF    ITS   OWN. 

no  more  than  out  of  his  mouth,  when  the  boys  were  changed 
to  crows,  and  flew  off. 

This  made  the  fa-ther  grieve,  but  all  the  more  did  he  love 
the  girl,  who  soon  grew  strong  and  fair.  When  she  be-came 
a  big  girl,  she  learned  the  fate  of  her  broth-ers,  and  it  made 
her  sad. 


THE  SEVEN   CROWS  63 

At  last  she  left  home  to  try  to  find  them,  and  break  the  spell 
that  bound  them.  She  went  from  one  end  of  the  earth  to 
the  oth-er,  but  she  did  not  find  her  broth-ers.  Then  she  came 
to  the  sun,  but  it  was  hot  and  scorched  her,  so  she  ran  to  the 
moon.  But  there  it  was  so  cold  that  she  went  to  the  stars, 
who  were  kind  to  her.  Each  star  sat  on  a  grand  seat  of  its 
own,  and  the  morn-ing  star  rose  and  gave  her  a  key,  say-ing, 
"If  you  do  not  have  this  key,  you  can  not  o-pen  the  ice-berg 
in  which  your  broth-ers  are  shut  up." 

But  the  girl  lost  the  key,  and  could  not  o-pen  the  ice-berg. 
She  bent  her  fin-ger  and  put  it  in  the  door,  and  by  good  luck 
it  un-locked  it.  When  she  en-tered,  she  saw  a  dwarf,  who 
said,   "My  child,  what  do  you  seek?" 

"I  seek  my  broth-ers,  the  sev-en  crows,"  she  said. 

"They  are  not  at  home,"  said  the  dwarf,  "but  if  you  wish 
to  wait  for  them  to  re-turn,  you  may  come  in  and  sit  down. 

The  girl  wait-ed,  and  while  she  did  so,  she  ate  some  food 
from  each  of  sev-en  plates  which  the  dwarf  had  set  for  the 
crows,  and  drank  from  each  of  sev-en  cups.  In  the  last  cup 
she  dropped  a  ring  which  she  had  brought  with  her. 

All  at  once  she  heard  a  whirr  in  the  air,  and  the  dwarf  said, 
' '  The  sev-en  crows  are  now  fly-ing  home. 

Soon  they  came  in,  and  be-gan  to  eat  and  drink,  each  seek- 
ing his  own  plate  and  cup.  Then  one  said  to  the  oth-er, 
"Who  has  been  eat-ing  from  my  plate?   Who  has  been  drink- 


64 


THE  SEVEN  CROWS 


'THE   SEVEN    CROWS   ARE    NOW   FLYING    HOME." 


ing  from  my  cup?  There  has  been  a  hu-man  mouth  here." 
When  the  sev-enth  came  to  the  bot-tom  of  his  cup,  the  ring 
rolled  out.  He  looked  at  it,  and  knew  it  as  a  ring  that  had 
be-longed  to  his  par-ents,  and  said,  "Can  it  be  that  our  sis-ter 
is  here  ?    Then  we  are  set  free  1 ' ' 

When  the  girl,  who  had  stood  be-hind  the  door,  heard  these 
words,  she  stepped  out,  and  at  once  the  spell  was  bro-ken.  The 
sev-en  crows  changed  to  sev-en  fine  young  men,  and  they  em- 
braced and  kissed  their  sis-ter,  and  in  great  joy  they  all  set 
out  at  once  for  their  home. 


65 


LITTLE  SNOWDROP 

ONCE  on  a  time  in  the  depth  of  win-ter,  when  the  flakes 
of  snow  fell  like  fea-thers  from  the  clouds,  a  queen  sat 
sew-ing  at  her  pal-ace  win-dow,  which  had  a  carved  frame  of 
black  wood.  While  she  sewed  she  pricked  her  fin-ger,  and  three 
drops  of  blood  fell  on  the  snow.  The  bright  red  looked  so 
well  on  the  white  snow,  that  the  queen  thought,  "Oh,  that  I 
had  a  child  as  white  as  this  snow,  as  red  as  this  blood,  and 
with  hair  as  black  as  the  wood  of  this  frame." 

It  soon  came  to  pass  that  the  queen  had  a  girl  child  who 
was  as  white  as  snow,  as  red  as  blood,  and  with  hair  as  black 
as  the  win-dow  frame.  She  looked  like  a  snowdrop,  and  hence 
was  called  by  that  name.  And  when  the  child  was  born,  the 
moth-er  died. 

When  less  than  a  year  had  passed,  the  king  took  a  new 
wife,  who  was  most  fair,  but  so  proud  that  she  could  not  bear 
to  think  that  an-y  one  else  came  near  her  in  beau-ty,  She  had 
a  mag-ic  glass,  and  when  she  stepped  in  front  of  it  and  said : 

"  Mir-ror,  mir-ror  on  the  wall, 
Who's  the  fair-est  one  of  all  ?  " 

it  would  say: 

"  Thou  art  the  fair-est,  la-dy  queen." 


66  LITTLE  SNOWDROP 

Then  she  was  p  eased,  for  she  knew  the  glass  spoke  the 
truth. 

But  as  Snow-drop  grew  up,  she  be-came  fair-er  and  fair-er 
till  she  reached  the  age  of  eight  years,  and  then  was  more 
love-ly  than  the  queen.  The  queen  was  vexed  and  went  to 
her  glass : 

"  Mir-ror,  mir-ror  on  the  wall, 
Who's  the  fair-est  one  of  all?" 

The  mir-ror  re-plied : 

"Thou  wert  the  fair-est  la-dy  queen; 
Snow-drop  is  fair-est  now,  I  ween." 

The  queen  was  shocked,  and  turned  green  with  en-vy. 
From  that  hour  the  sight  of  Snow-drop  rilled  her  heart  with 
hate ;  and  the  hate  grew  so  strong  and  fierce  that  she  had  no 
rest  night  or  day.  At  last  she  called  a  hunt-er  to  her,  and 
said,  ' '  Take  this  child  to  the  woods ;  I  can  not  bear  the  sight 
of  her.  Kill  her,  and  bring  me  her  heart  and  tongue  as  a 
proof  that  you  have  done  what  I  bid  you." 

The  hunt-er  took  the  child  to  the  woods,  but  when  he  drew 
his  knife  to  kill  her  she  begged  him  to  spare  her  life.  "I  will 
run  in-to  the  wilds,  and  not  be  seen  an-y  more,"  said  she. 

This  speech  touched  the  man's  heart,  and  he  took  pit-y  on 
her,  and  let  her  go.  Just  then  a  young  boar  came  to  the  spot, 
and  as  soon  as  he  saw  it  the  man  caught  and  killed  it.     Then 


Lin le  snowdrop 


67 


he  took  its  heart  and 
tongue,  and  brought 
them  to  the  queen,  and 
told  her  they  were 
Snow-drop's. 

But  now  poor  Snow- 
drop was  left  a -lone, 
and  knew  not  which 
way  to  turn.  She  ran 
through  the  woods,  and 
saw  some  wild  beasts, 
but  none  of  them 
harmed  her.  She  ran 
on  till  dark,  and  then 
she  came  to  a  small  hut, 
in-to  which  she  went. 
There  was  no  one  in- 
side, but  a  ta-ble  was 
set  with  food  for  sev-en 


per -sons. 

Snow-drop  was  in 
dire  need  of  food,  so  she  ate  a  small  speck  of  what  was  on 
each  plate,  and  drank  a  drop  or  two  of  wine  out  of  each  glass, 
for  she  did  not  wish  to  take  the  whole  share  of  an-y  one. 

There  were  sev-en  small  beds  ranged  in  a  row,  each  cov-ered 


THE   QUEEN    BEFORE    HER    MIRROR. 


68  LITTLE  SNOWDROP 

with  snow-white  sheets.  Then  Snow-drop,  be-cause  she  was 
tired,  lay  down  in  one  of  the  beds,  but  it  did  not  suit;  then 
she  tried  the  next,  but  that  was  too  long ;  the  third  was  too 
short ;  the  fourth,  too  hard ;  and  so  on  till  she  came  to  the 
sev-enth,  which  was  just  right,  so  she  tucked  her-self  up  in 
it,  and  when  she  had  prayed  to  God  to  take  care  of  her,  went 
to  sleep. 

By  and  by  the  lords  of  the  house  came  home.  They  were 
sev-en  dwarfs  who  delved  all  day  in  the  hills  for  gold.  They 
saw  that  some  one  had  been  in  the  room ;  that  it  was  not  just 
as  they  had  left  it.  The  first  one  said,  "Who  has  sat  in  my 
chair?"  The  sec-ond,  '"Who  has  eat-en  from  my  plate? " 
The  third,  "Who  has  nib-bled  at  my  bread?"  The  fourth, 
"Who  has  been  at  my  broth?"  The  fifth,  "Who  has  used 
my  fork?"  The  sixth,  "Who  has  been  cut-ting  with  my 
knife?"     The  sev-enth,   "Who  has  drunk  out  of  my  cup?"   . 

Then  the  first  one,  look-ing  at  his  bed,  saw  that  a  dent  had 
been  made  in  it,  and  he  cried  out,  "Who  has  stepped  on  my 
bed?"  They  all  ran  each  one  to  his  bed,  and  cried,  one  af-ter 
the  oth-er,   "Some  one  has  been  in  my  bed." 

But  the  sev-enth  one,  on  look-ing  at  his,  saw  Snow-drop. 
He  called  his  broth-ers,  who  ran  to  the  bed  with  their  lamps 
in  their  hands. 

They  looked  at  her  in  won-der.  "What  a  beau-ty  she  is!" 
they  said ;  and  they  were  so  much  pleased  that  they  would  not 


LITTLE  SNOWDROP  69 

wake  her,  but  left  her  to  sleep,  and  the  sev-enth  dwarf,  in 
whose  bed  she  was,  slept  one  hour  with  each  of  his  feMows, 
and  so  the  night  passed. 

When  Snow-drop  woke  in  the  morn-ing,  and  saw  the  dwarfs, 
she  was  fright-ened.  But  they  were  friend-ly,  and  asked  her 
how  she  had  come  to  their  house.  Then  she  told  them  how 
her  step-moth-er  would  have  had  her  killed,  and  how  her  life 
had  been  spared.  The  dwarfs  told  her  that  if  she  would  keep 
house  for  them  she  might  stay  with  them  and  should  want  for 
noth-ing. 

"I  will  do  all  this  glad-ly,"  said  Snow-drop,  and  so  she 
stayed  with  them. 

The  dwarfs  went  out  each  day  to  dig  for  gold,  and  they  told 
Snow-drop  to  take  great  care  not  to  let  a  soul  in  the  house 
while  they  were  not  there,  "It  will  not  be  long,"  said  they, 
"till  your  step-moth-er  will  know  you  are  here." 

The  queen  in  the  mean  time  had  no  thought  but  that  Snow- 
drop was  dead,  and  that  once  more  she  was  the  fair-est  per-son 
in  the  world.     She  went  to  her  glass  one  day  and  said: 


"  Mir-ror,  mir-ror,  on  the  wall, 
Who's  the  fair-est  one  of  all  ? " 


And  it  re-plied: 


"  Thou  wert  the  fair-est,  la-dy  queen  ; 
Snow-drop  is  fair-est  now  I  ween. 


70  LITTLE  SNOWDROP 

A-mid  the  for-est  dark-ly  green, 

She  lives  with  dwarfs  —  the  hills  be-tween." 

Then  the  queen  knew  the  hun-ter  had  not  told  her  the  truth. 
She  thought  and  thought  how  she  could  kill  Snow-drop,  and 
at  last  she  hit  on  a  plan.  She  stained  her  face,  and  put  on 
the  dress  of  a  ped-dler  wom-an,  and  went  o-ver  the  hills  to 
the  dwarfs'  house.  She  knocked,  and  Snow-drop  looked  out 
and  think-ing  she  was  some  poor  wom-an,  let  her  in,  and 
bought  a  stay-lace  from  her. 

"Come,"  said  the  old  wom-an,  "let  me  lace  your  pret-ty 
waist  right,"  and  Snow-drop  let  her  do  so.  But  she  drew  the 
lace  so  tight  that  Snow-drop  could  not  breathe,  and  fell  down 
as  if  dead.     Then  the  queen  sped  a-way. 

When  the  dwarfs  came  home  they  found  their  dear  Snow- 
drop ly-ing  on  the  floor.  They  raised  her  up,  and  when  they 
saw  that  she  was  laced  too  tight,  they  cut  the  stays,  and  in  a 
short  time  she  be-gan  to  breathe.  When  they  heard  what  had 
ta-ken  place,  they  knew  the  queen  had  been  there,  and  they 
warned  Snow-drop  to  take  more  care,  and  let  no  one  come  in 
the  house  when  they  were  not  with  her. 

When  the  queen  reached  home,  she  went  to  her  glass  and 
said  the  same  words : 

"  Mir-ror,  mir-ror,  on  the  wall, 
Who's  the  fair-est  one  of  all  ? " 


LITTLE  SNOWDROP  71 

and  it  re-plied  once  more : 

"  Thou  wert  the  fair-est,  la-dy  queen, 
Snow-drop  is  fair-est  now,  I  ween. 
A-mid  the  for-est,  dark-ly  green, 
She  lives  with  dwarfs  —  the  hills  be-tween." 

Her  rage  was  great,  and  she  set  her  wits  to  work  a -gain  to 
plan  Snow-drop's  death.  By  the  aid  of  witch-craft,  she  made 
a  poi-soned  comb,  and  dressed  as  an  old  worn -an,  and  set  out 
once  more  o-ver  the  hills.  She  knocked  at  the  door  of  the 
dwarfs'  house,  call-ing,   "Nice  goods  for  sale!" 

Snow-drop  peeped  out  and  said,  "You  need  not  stop  here,  I 
shall  let  no  one  in." 

"But  still  you  may  look,"  said  the  old  wom-an,  and  she 
held  up  the  comb.  The  child  was  so  much  pleased  with  the 
pret-ty  comb  that  she  for -got  her  fears  and  o-pened  the  door\, 

"Now,"  said  the  ped-dler,  "let  me  show  you  how  to  use 
it,"  and  she  be-gan  to  comb  Snow-drop's  hair.  The  poi-son 
worked  at  once,  and  Snow-drop  fell  to  the  floor  sense-less. 

By  good  luck,  the  dwarfs  soon  came  home ;  and  when  they 
saw  Snow-drop  ly-ing  on  the  floor,  they  knew  the  step-moth-er 
had  been  there  a-gain.  As  they  raised  Snow-drop  they  saw 
the  comb  in  her  hair,  and  as  soon  as  they  drew  it  out  she 
re-vived. 

When  the  queen  reached  home  she  went  a-gain  to  her  glass, 
and  got  from  it  the  same  re-ply  as  twice   be-fore.     This  made 


72 


LITTLE  SNOWDROP 


her  wild  with  rage.     "Snow-drop  shall  die,"  she  cried,   "e-ven 
if  it  cost  me  my  life." 

She  went  to  a  se-cret  room  which  no  one  else  could  en-ter, 

and  there  made  a  dead-ly  poi-soned  ap-ple. 
Then    she    a -gain    stained    her    face,    and 
dressed  as  a  peas -ant's   wife,  and  went  a 
third    time    to    the   dwarfs' 
house. 

She  knocked,  but  Snow- 
drop looked  out  of  the 
win-dow  and  said,  "I 
dare  not  o-pen  the 
door,  for  the  dwarfs 
have  told  me  to  let  no 
one  in." 

"That    is     hard    for 

me,"  said  the  wom-an, 

"for  I  must   take  back 

my    ap-ples,    but    there 

is  one  which  I  will 

»/   give  you  ; ' '  and  she 

SNOWDROP    LETS    THE    DISGUISED    QUEEN    LACE    HER    WAIST.  held      UP     an     ap-ple. 

"No,"  said  Snow -drop,   "I  dare  not  take  it." 
"What!    are    you    a-fraid    of   it?"    cried    the    old    wom-an. 
"There,  see,  I  will  cut  it  in  two,  and  you  can  have  the   red 


LITTLE  SNOWDROP  73 

halt  and  I  will  take  the  white."  The  ap-ple  had  been  made 
so  that  the  red  side  a-lone  was  poi-soned.  Snow-drop  longed 
for  the  fruit,  and  when  she  saw  the  wom-an  eat  her  half,  she 
could  not  re-sist,  but  took  the  poi-soned  part. 

She  took  but  one  bite,  and  fell  down  dead.  The  queen  looked 
at  her  with  cru-el  eyes,  and  laughed.  "The  dwarfs  will  not 
be  a-ble  to  rouse  you  this  time,"  she  said. 

And  when  she  reached  home,  and  went  to  her  glass,  it 
an-swered : 

"  Thou  art  the  fair-est,  la-dy  queen." 

When  the  dwarfs  came  home  they  tried  all  means  to  bring 
Snow-drop  to  life,  but  this  time  she  seemed  to  be  dead  be-yond 
re -call.  They  laid  her  on  a  bier,  and  sat  by  her  and  wept  for 
three  days.  They  would  have  bur-ied  her,  but  she  looked  so 
fair  and  life-like  they  could  not  bear  to  put  her  in  the  earth. 
So  they  had  a  case  made  of  clear  glass,  in  which  one  could 
view  the  bod-y  from  all  sides,  and  in  this  they  placed  her. 
Then  they  put  the  glass  case  up -on  the  ledge  of  a  rock,  and 
one  of  them  al-ways  stayed  by  it  to  watch. 

Snow -drop  lay  in  the  case  a  long  time  and  showed  no  signs 
of  de-cay.  By  and  by  a  young  prince  passed  through  the 
woods  one  day  and  saw  the  case  on  the  rock,  and  the  fair  girl 
with-in  it. 

When  he  had  looked  at  it,  he  said  to  the  dwarfs :  ' '  Let  me 


74 


LITTLE  SNOWDROP 


THEN    THEY    PUT  THE    GLA38    CASE    UPON    THE  LEDGE    OF   A    ROCK. 

have   this    case   and    I   will   pay  you   what   you    like   for   it." 
The  dwarfs  said,   "We  will  not  sell  the  case  for  all  the  gold 

in  the  world  ! ' ' 

But  when  they  saw  that  the  prince  loved   Snow  drop  tru-ly, 


LITTLE  SNOWDROP  75 

they  gave  him  the  case.  The  prince  had  his  ser-vants  lift  it 
and  take  it  a-way.  As  they  went  through  the  woods,  one  of 
the  men  stum-bled,  and  the  jar  caused  the  piece  of  poi-soned 
fruit  to  roll  out  of  Snow-drop's  mouth.  Soon  she  o-pened  her 
eyes,  raised  the  top  of  the  case  and  sat  up. 
Where  am  I  ? "  she  cried. 

'You  are  with  me,"  said  the  prince,  full  of  joy,  and  he  told 
her  all  that  had  come  to  pass.  "You  are  more  dear  to  me 
than  all  else  in  the  world.  Come  with  me  to  my  fath-er's 
pal -ace  and  be  my  wife." 

Snow -drop  loved  the  kind  young  prince,  and  went  with  him 
and  soon  af-ter  their  mar-riage  took  place  with  great  splen-dor. 

Snow-drop's  step-moth-er  was  asked  to  the  wed-ding,  and 
when  she  was  dressed  in  her  fine  clothes  to  go,  she  went  to 
her  glass  and  asked : 

"Mir-ror,  mir-ror  on  the  wall, 
Who's  the  fair-est  one  of  all?" 

and  it  re-plied : 

"Thou  wert  the  fair-est,  la-dy  queen; 
The  prin-ce's  bride  is  more  fair,  I  ween." 

In  her  an-ger  the  queen  at  first  thought  she  would  not  go 
to  the  wed-ding,  but  in  the  end  she  could  not  re-sist  her  wish 
to  see  the  bride. 

As   soon   as   she   en-tered   she  knew  Snow-drop,  and   in   her 


76  THE  FISHERMAN  AND  HIS  WIFE 

rage  and  fear  seemed  rooted  to  the  spot.  Just  then  a  pair  of  red- 
hot  iron  shoes  were  brought  with  tongs  and  set  in  front  of 
her,  and  these  she  was  forced  to  put  on  and  dance  in  till  she 
fell  down  dead. 


THE   FISHERMAN   AND   HIS  WIFE 

ONCE  on  a  time  there  lived  a  fish-er-man  and  his  wife  in 
a  poor  small  hut  near  the  sea.  Each  day  he  went  out 
to  fish,  and  there  he  sat  with  his  rod  and  looked  at  the  sea. 

One  day  his  line  went  deep,  deep  down,  and  when  he  drew 
it  up  there  was  a  fine  young  fish  at  the  end.  The  fish  spoke 
to  him,  and  said,  "Let  me  go,  I  pray  you,  fish-er-man;  I  am 
not  a  real  fish,  but  a  prince  on  whom  a  witch  has  cast  a  spell. 
What  use  shall  I  be  to  you  if  you  pull  me  up?  I  should  not 
taste  well,  and  you  could  not  eat  me.  Put  me  back  in  the 
sea  and  let  me  swim." 

"Well,"  said  the  man,  "you  need  not  make  such  a  fuss. 
I  have  no  use  for  a  fish  that  can  talk,  so  you  may  go  back  at 
once  in-to  the  sea."  With  these  words  he  threw  it  in-to  the 
wa-ter,  and  it  swam  off.  Then  the  man  got  up  and  went 
home  to  his  wife. 

"Hus-band, "  said  his  wife,  "have  you  caught  no  fish  to' 
day? " 


THE  FISHERMAN  AND   HIS   WIFE 


77 


"Oh,  I  caught  one,"  said  he,   "but  it  said  it  was  not  a  fish 
but  a  prince,  so  I  threw  it  back  in-to  the  sea." 
' '  Did  you  not  wish  first  ? ' '  she  asked. 

"No,"  said  he,   "what  should  I  wish 
for?" 

"What   should   you  wish   for?"    she 

cried.      "Why,  that  is  too  bad!    Must 

we  live  all  our  days  in  this  small  mean 

hut?     You  might    at   least    have  asked 

for   a  bet-ter   hut.     Go   back 

and    call    him,    and    say   we 

want  a  nice  neat  cot-tage,  and 

I  am  sure  we  shall  get  it." 

■n|NpPHKL<*  Thy'  how 

11-?    '^''}^MlMWr^'\._..     can  I  pay  for  it?" 

asked  the  man. 

"Pay  for  it!" 
said  his  wife. 
Did  you  not 
catch  the  fish, 
and  then  let  it 
^>go.  Be  quick, 
and  ask  for  this, 
and  he  is  sure  to 
give  it  to  you." 


*"H 


"WHAT   DO   YOU    WANT?" 


78  THE  FISHERMAN  AND  HIS  WIFE 

The  man  did  not  like  to  go,  but  it  was  of  no  use  to  op-pose 
his  wife.  So  he  went  once  more  down  to  the  sea,  which  was 
not  so  smooth  as  it  had  been  be-fore.  He  called  the  fish,  and 
it  swam  up  to  him  and  asked,   "What  do  you  want?': 

"Oh,"'  said  the  man.  "because  I  caught  you  and  let  you 
go,  my  wife  says  I  ought  to  have  wished.  She  sent  me  back 
to  ask  for  a  small  neat  cot-tage  in  place  of  our  poor  hut." 

"Go  home,"  said  the  fish,   "she  has  it  now." 

So  the  man  went,  and  as  he  drew  near  his  home,  the  hut 
was  gone,  and  in  its  place  stood  a  clean  cot-tage,  at  the  door 
of  which  his  wife  sat  on  a  bench.  She  took  him  by  the  hand 
and  said,  "Come  in  now  and  see  if  this  is  not  much  bet-ter." 

So  they  went  in,  and  in  the  cot-tage  there  was  a  nice  room 
with  a  fire-place  in  it,  a  bed-room  with  a  soft  white  bed,  a 
store-room  full  of  good  things,  and  a  kitch-en  fit-ted  up  with 
the  best  of  tin  and  brass-ware. 

"See,"  said  the  wife,   "is  it  not  nice?" 

"Yes,"  said  the  man,  "and  it  will  stay  so;  now  let  us  be 
con-tent-ed. " 

' '  We  will  see  a -bout  that, ' '  said  the  wife,  and  they  went  to 
bed. 

The  wife  was  pleased  for  a  while,  but  when  she  thought  of 
the  quick-ness  with  which  her  wish  had  been  grant-ed,  she  felt 
sad  that  she  had  not  asked  for  more.  At  last  she  be-gan  to 
tease  her  hus-band  to  go  and  call  the  fish  a-gain,  and  ask  him 


THE   FISHERMAN   AND  HIS   WIFE 


79 


for  a  large  farm-house. 

The  man  did  not 
want  to  go.  He  thought 
the  cot-tage  was  large 
e-nough,  but  his  wife 
gave  him  no  peace,  and 
at  length  he  went  to 
the  sea,  called  the  fish, 
and  told  him  his  wife 
want-ed  a  large  farm- 
house. 

"Go  home,"  said  the 
fish,  "and  you  will  find 
that  she  has  ob-tained 
her  wish." 

The  man  found  the 
words  of  the  fish  true, 
but  the  wife  did  not 
stay  pleased  long.  She 
wished  for  some-thing 
still  more  grand,  and 
kept  send-  ing  the  man  to  the  fish  to  ask,  first  that  she  might 
live  in  a  stone  cas-tle,  and  then  that  the  cas-tle  might  be 
changed  in-to  a  pal-ace  and  she  be  a  queen,  and  then  that  she 
might  be  an  em-press.     Each  time  the  fish  gave  her  her  wish, 


THE'CASTLE   IS   CHANGED    INTO  A  PALACE. 


80  THE  SLEEPING  BEAUTY 

but  each  time  the  sea  grew  more  rough,  and  the  clouds  more 
black. 

At  last  there  was  no  high-er  rank  on  earth  for  which  the 
wife  could  wish,  and  she  could  not  sleep  for  think-ing  what 
else  to  ask  for,  She  rose  at  dawn,  and  looked  out  of  the  win 
dow,  and  saw  the  sun  rise.  "Why  should  not  I  make  the 
sun  and  moon  rise  ? ' '  she  thought,  and  she  made  the  man  go 
to  the  fish  and  say  that  she  wished  to  rule  the  sun  and  moon. 

When  the  fish  was  told  of  this  mad  wish,  a  fierce  storm 
burst  forth,  and  while  the  man  stood  trem-bling  he  heard  the 
fish  say,  "Go  home;  you  will  find  her  once  more  in  her  hut." 

And  there  she  staid  for  the  rest  of  her  days. 


THE  SLEEPING   BEAUTY 

ONCE  on  a  time  there  lived  a  king  and  a  queen  who  were 
sad  be  cause  they  had  no  child.  At  length,  when  years 
had  gone  by,  they  had  their  wish  —  a  girl  child  was  born  to 
them,  and  their  joy  knew  no  bounds. 

The  king  to  show  how  pleased  he  was,  gave  a  feast  when 
the  child  was  named,  so  grand  that  none  like  it  had  been  seen 
up  to  that  time.  He  asked  all  the  fai-ries  that  could  be  found 
in.  the  land  to  come  to  the  feast,  so  that  each  might  give  the 
ba-by   prin-cess   some   choice  gift,  as    was   the   way  with  good 


THE  SLEEPING   BEAUTY 


81 


4 


THE    OLD    FAIRY   ARRIVES. 


fai-ries  in  those  days.  When  they 
sat  down  to  the  feast  there  was  set 
in  front  of  each  fai-ry  a  dish  of  pure 
gold,  set  with  rich  gems,  as  well  as 
a  plate,  knife,  fork,  and  spoon  of 
gold.  But  just  as  they  took  their 
seats,  in-to  the  hall  came  an  old  fai-ry  who  had  not  been  asked, 
be -cause  two  score  of  years  past  she  had  gone  off  on  a  long 
trip,   and  had  not  since  been  heard  of  till  this  day. 

The  king  had  a  place  made  for  her,  but  plain  ware  had  to 
be  put  on  for  her,  as  but  sev-en  of  the  gold  sets  had  been 
made.  The  old  fai-ry  looked  on  this  as  a  slight,  and  made 
some  dire  threats  in  a  low  voice.  A  young  fai-ry  who  sat  near 
her,  heard  how  she  found  fault,  and  feared  she  might  give  the 
child  some  e-vil  gift ;  so  she  went  and  hid  be-hind  the  hang-ings, 


82  THE  SLEEPING  BEAUTY 

so  that   she  might  speak   last,  and   thus   un-do,  as   far  as  she 
could,  the  harm  the  old  fai-ry  might  try  to  bring  to  pass. 

When  the  feast  drew  near  its  end  the  sev-en  good  fai-ries 
be-gan  to  be-stow  their  gifts  on  the  child.  The  first  wished 
that  she  might  be  good :  the  sec-ond,  that  she  might  be  wise ; 
the  third,  that  she  might  be  fair,  and  so  on,  till  well  nigh  all 
good  things  that  could  be  wished  for  had  been  giv-en. 

Then  the  old  fai-ry's  turn  came.  She  walked  to  the  mid-die 
of  the  room,  and  with  raised  hand  cried  out,  ''My  gift  to  the 
child  is — that  when  she  is  fif-teen  years  old,  she  shall  pierce 
her  hand  with  a  spin-die,  and  die  of  the  wound."  Then  she 
turned,  went  out  of  the  hall,  and  was  seen  no  more. 

Her  aw-ful  gift  put  all  in  a  fright,  and  the  king  and  queen 
and  all  the  court  be-gan  to  cry  and  weep. 

But  the  young  fai-ry  who  had  staid  be-hind  the  hang-ings 
now  came  forth.  She  could  not  un-do  in  full  the  work  of  the 
old  fai-ry,  but  she  could  make  the  doom  ot  the  prin-cess  less 
hard.  ' '  She  shall  not  die. ' '  she  said,  ' '  but  a  deep  sleep  shall 
fall  on  her,  which  shall  last  a  hun-dred  years." 

To  save  his  child  from  this  sad  fate,  the  king  caused  all  the 
spin-dies  in  the  land  to  be  burnt.  As  the  child  grew  up,  all 
the  good  wish-es  of  the  fai-ries  came  true ;  she  was  fair,  wise, 
and  good,  and  was  loved  by  all  who  knew  her. 

It  came  to  pass  that  on  the  day  that  she  was  fif-teen  years 
old,  the  king   and  queen  were  not   at   home,  and   she  was  left 


THE  SLEEPING   BEAUTY 


83 


to  roam  at  will  through  the  cas-tle.  She  seized  the  chance  to 
see  parts  of  it  in  which  she  had  nev-er  been  be-fore,  and  went 
from  room  to  room  till  she  came  to  an  old  tow-er.  She  went 
up  the  stairs  till  she  came  to  a  small 
door.  She  turned  the  key,  the  door 
flew  o-pen,  and  there  in  the  room  sat 
an  old  wom-an  spin-ning  flax. 

"How  do  you  do,  my  good  old 
la-dy?"  said  the  prin=cess.  "What  are 
you  do-ing  ? ' ' 

"I  am  spin-ning,"  said  the  wom-an. 

"What  is  that  queer  thing  that  flies 
round  so  fast  ? ' '  asked  the  prin-cess, 
and  she  took  the  spin-die  in  her  hand 
as  if  she  too  would  spin.  She  had  no 
more  than  touched  the  spin-die  when 
the  bad  wish  came  true — the  point  of 
the  spin-die  pricked  her  hand,  and  she 
fell  back  as  if  she  were  dead  on  a  bed 
that  stood  near.  At  the  same  time  a  deep  sleep  fell  on  all  in 
the  cas-tle. 

The  king  and  queen,  who  had  just  come  in,  went  to  sleep 
in  the  hall,  and  all  their  suite  with  them.  The  beasts  in  their 
stalls,  the  doves  on  the  roof,  the  flies  on  the  wall,  yes,  and 
e-ven  the  fire   on  the   hearth,  all    ceased   to    stir    and  went   to 


BEHIND    THE    HANGINGS. 


84 


THE  SLEEPING  BEAUTY 


sleep.  The  meat  stopped  roast-ing,  and  the  cook,  who  had 
raised  his  hand  to  cuff  the  boy  who  helped  him,  dropped  his 
arm  and  went  to  sleep  too.  The  wind  died  down,  and  not  a 
leaf  stirred  on  the  trees  near  the  cas-tle. 

Soon  a  thick  hedge  of  thorns   sprang  up,  and  grew  so  high, 
as  years  passed,  that  it  hid   the  cas-tle  from  sight,  and  not  so 

much  as  the  flag  that  waved  from 
the  tow-er  could  be  seen. 

But   the   tale   of  the 
sleep-ing  Bri-er  Rose,  as 
the  prin-cess  was  called, 
spread  through  the  land, 
and  from  time  to  time 
sons  of  kings  tried 
to  reach  the  cas- 
tle ;   but    one  and 
all   failed,  for   the 
thorns  held  them, 
as    if    by    hands, 
and     the     young 
men  died  there  be- 
cause   they    could 
not  get  free. 

Years  and  years 
passed,     and     an- 


THE  OLD  MAN  AND  THE  PRINCE. 


THE  SLEEPING   BEAUTY  85 

oth-er  king's  son  came  to  that  part  of  the  land.     An  old  man 

who  lived   near  the  hedge  told   him  of  the  cas-tle  and  the  fair 

prin-cess,    called    Bri-er    Rose,    who 

had  slept  in  it  for  a  hun-dred  years, 

and   with   her   the    king   and   queen 

and   all   their  court.     The  old   man 

told  him  too  how  he  had  heard  from 

his   grand-fa-ther  of  the  young  men 

who  had   lost  their   lives   try-ing   to 

pierce  the  hedge.    The  young  prince 

cried  out,   "I   have   no  fear.     I  will 

find  the  fair  Bri-er  Rose." 

The  good   old  man   tried  to  talk 

him  out  of  it,  but  he  would  not  hear 

a  word. 
Just  at  that  time  came  the  last 

day    of    the    hun-dred    years    when 

Bri-er    Rose   would   wake   from    her 

sleep.     As  the  prince  drew  near  the 

hedge,    in    place    of  thorns    he    saw 

on-ly  flow-ers.     In  the  court-yard  he  saw  the  hor-ses  and  dogs 

as  they  lay  sleep-ing.     He  went   in   the   cas-tle ;   all  was   still, 

the  flies  slept  on  the  wall,  the  cook,  and  near  him  the  kitch-en 

boy,  and  the  maid,  all  slept. 

He  went  on  and   in  the  hall   he   found   the   court-iers  sleep- 


THE   SLEEPING   COOK. 


86  THE   CAT  WHO   MARRIED  A  MOUSE 

ing  and  near  the  throne  lay  the  king  and  queen.  He  went 
from  room  to  room,  but  heard  no  sound.  At  last  he  came  to 
the  room  in   the  tow-er  in   which  the   prin-cess   was   sleep-ing. 

He  o-pened  the  door :  there  she  lay,  look-ing  so  fair  he  could 
not  take  his  eyes  from  her.  He  stooped  and  kissed  her ;  at 
this  Bri-er  Rose  o-pened  her  eyes,  woke  up,  and  smiled  at  the 
prince. 

Hand  in  hand  they  went  out  of  the  tow-er.  They  found  the 
king  and  queen  and  all  the  court-iers  a-wake,  and  star-ing  one 
at  an-oth-er  in  sur-prise,  and  the  whole  cas-tle  was  once  more 
in  mo-tion  as  if  noth-ing  had  oc-curred,  for  the  hun-dred  years 
of  sleep  had  made  no  change  in  an-y  one. 

By  and  by  there  was  a  grand  wed-ding.  The  young  prince 
made  Bri-er  Rose  his  wife,  and  they  lived  full  of  joy  to  the 
end  of  their  days. 


THE  CAT  WHO   MARRIED  A   MOUSE 

ONCE  on  a  time  there  was  a  cat  who  made  friends  with 
a  mouse,  and  talked  so  much  to  her  of  the  love  he  had 
for  her  that  at  length  she  a -greed  to  be  his  wife  and  keep 
house  for  him. 

"We  must  lay  in  a  stock  of  food,"  said  the  cat,    "so  that 
I  shall  not   have  to  go   out  when   it   storms.     You   must   not 


THE  CAT  WHO   MARRIED   A  MOUSE 

stir   out    at   all,    for    fear    you    may   get    caught    in    a 

So  he  went  out   and  bought  a  jar  of  fat,  and  put  it 
church.     "I  am  sure  no  one  will  dare  to  steal   it  from 
said  he,   "and  we  will  not  touch  it  till  we  need  it." 

But  in  a  short  time  the 
cat  be-gan  to  long  for  it, 
and  he  said  to  the  mouse, 
"I  have  a  friend  who 
means  to  christ-en  a  son 
at  the  church  to-day,  and 
I  wish  to  be  there." 

"Oh,  yes !  go,  by  all 
means,"  said  the  mouse. 
What  the  cat  said  was 
not  true,  he  had  no  friend 
at  the  church.  But  he 
went  there  and  ate  the 
top  off  the  jar  of  fat. 
He  went  home  at  the  end 
of  the  day,  and  the 
mouse  asked  him  what 
name  they  gave  the 
child. 

"Top-offS'  said  the  cat. 
Why,  that  is  a  strange      'say  one  word  more  and  i  will  eat  you.- 


87 

trap." 
in  the 
there, 


s 


88  THE  CAT  WHO  MARRIED  A  MOUSE 

name  1 ' '  said  the  mouse.  "It  is  the  first  time  I  have  heard 
such  a  name  in  my  life." 

The  cat  soon  be-gan  to  long  for  some  more  of  the  fat.  "I 
must  leave  you  once  more,"  he  said  to  the  mouse.  "I  have 
been  asked  a-gain  by  a  friend  to  see  a  child  named." 

The  mouse  said  "All  right,"  so  the  cat  crept  be-hind  the 
wall  to  the  church  a-gain,  and  ate  the  fat  till  the  jar  was  not 
more  than  half  full.  "How  nice  a  thing  tastes  when  one  eats 
it  by  one's  self,"  he  said,  and  he  was  well  pleased  with  his 
day's  work. 

When  he  came  home,  the  mouse  asked  what  name  they 
gave  this  child. 

"Half-out,"  s  'd  the  cat. 

"That  is  a  stituige  name  too,"  said  the  mouse. 

It  was  not  long  be-fore  the  cat  went  to  the  church  a  third 
time,  and  ate  up  all  the  fat.  When  he  came  home  and  the 
mouse  asked  the  name  of  the  child,  he  said,   "All-out." 

"That  is  the  stran-gest  name  of  all,"  said  the  mouse. 

It  got  cold,  and  food  was  scarce.  "Come,"  said  the  mouse, 
"let  us  go  to  our  jar  of  fat  now;  it  will  taste  good  to  us." 

"Yes,  in-deed,  it  will,"  said  the  cat.  "It  will  taste  just  as 
if  you  stuck  your  fine  lit-tle  tongue  out  of  the  win-dow. " 

They  set  out  at  once,  and  when  they  came  to  the  church, 
there  stood  the  jar,  but  no  fat  in  it. 

"Ahl"  said  the  mouse,   "now  I  can  see  what  it   all  meant 


CLEVER  HANS  89 

as  clear  as  day ;  you  are  in-deed  a  true  friend !  There  was  not 
a  word  of  truth  in  what  you  said.  You  ate  it  all  when  you 
went  to  the  church;  first  Top-off,  then  Half-out,  then — " 

"Say  one  word  more  and   I  will  eat  you  too,"  said  the  cat. 

"All-out''  was  on  the  tip  of  her  tongue,  and  be-fore  the 
poor  mouse  could  stop,  it  came  out.  The  cat  made  a  spring, 
seized  her,  and  put  an  end  to  her. 

And  this  you  will  learn  is  quite  the  way  of  the  world. 


CLEVER   HANS 


/^\NE  day  Hans's  moth-er  saw  him  go-ing  a-way,  and  she 
^^  asked  him,  "Where  do  you  mean  to  go,  Hans?"  "To 
Greth-el's"  said  Hans.  "Well,  act  right.  Hans."  "I  will 
take  care;  good-by,  moth-er."     "Good-by,   Hans." 

Then  Hans  came  to  Greth-el.  " Good  day, "  said  he.  "Good 
day,"  said  Greth-el.  "What  have  you  brought  me,  Hans?" 
"I  have  not  brought  a  thing.  Have  you  some-thing  to  give 
me?"  Greth-el  gave  Hans  a  pin.  "Good-by,"  said  he.  "Good- 
by,  Hans." 

Hans  took  the  pin,  stuck  it  in  a  load  of  hay,  and  walked 
home  be-hind  the  cart.  When  he  got  home  he  said,  "Good 
eve-ning,  moth-er."  "Good  eve-ning,  Hans.  Where  have 
you  been ? "    "To  Greth-el's. "    "  What  did  you  give  Greth-el ? ' ' 


90  CLEVER  HANS 

"Noth-ing,  but  Greth-el  gave  me  a  pin."      ''And  where  have 
you  put  it?"     "In  the  load  of  hay."     "You  should  not  have 
done  that,    Hans ;  you  should  have  stuck  it  in   your  sleeve. 
"Is  that  so?    Well,  I  will  do  that  the  next  time." 

The  next  time,  Greth-el  gave  Hans  a  knife.  When  he 
reached  home  his  moth-er  asked,  "What  did  you  get  this  time, 
Hans?"  "A  knife,"  said  Hans.  "And  where  did  you  put  it?" 
"In  my  sleeve."  "You  should  not  have  done  that,  Hans  ;  you 
should  put  knives  in  your  pock-et."  "Is  that  so?  Well,  I 
will  do  that  the  next  time. " 

Hans  soon  went  a-gain  to  Greth-el's,  and  Gretn-el  gave  him 
a  young  goat.  He  tied  its  legs  and  put  it  in  his  pock-et,  and 
just  as  he  reached  home  it  died  for  want  of  air.  His  moth-er 
asked,  ' '  What  did  you  get  this  time,  Hans  ? "  "A  goat. 
"And  where  did  you  put  it  Hans ? "  " In  my  pock-et. "  "You 
should  not  have  done  that,  Hans  ;  you  should  have  tied  it  with 
a  rope  and  led  it  home."  "Is  that  so?  Well,  I  will  do  that 
the  next  time." 

The  next  time  Greth-el  gave  Hans  a  piece  of  pork.  Hans 
took  the  pork,  tied  it  with  a  rope,  and  swung  it  to  and  fro  so 
that  the  dogs  came  and  ate  it  up.  When  he  reached  home  he 
held  noth-ing  but  the  rope  in  his  hand.  His  moth-er  asked, 
' '  What  did  you  get  this  time,  Hans  ? "  "A  piece  of  pork. 
"Where  did  you  put  it?"  "I  tied  it  with  a  rope,  swung  it 
to  and  fro,  and  the  dogs  came  and  ate  it  up."     "You  should 


CLEVER  HANS 


91 


THE    DOGS    EAT    UP    HANS'S    PIECE    OF    PORK. 


have  carried  it  on  your  head."  "Is  that  so?  Well,  I  will  do 
that  the  next  time." 

The  next  time  Greth-el  gave  Hans  a  calf.  He  set  the  calf 
on  his  head,  and  it  kicked  him  in  the  face.  When  he  told 
his  moth-er  of  it,  she  said,  "You  should  not  have  done  that, 
Hans,  you  should  have  led  the  calf  home  and  put  it  in  the 
stall."     "It  that  so?     Well,  I  will  do  that  next  time." 

The  next  time  he  went  to  see  Greth-el,  she  said  she  would 
go  home  with  him.  He  put  a  rope  round  her  neck,  led  her 
home,  and  tied  her  in  the  stall.    When  his  moth-er  asked  hirn. 


92  THE  WEDDING   OF  MRS.   FOX 

what  he  had  brought  this  time,  he  said,  "I  brought  home 
Greth-el  her-self."  "And  where  have  you  left  her?'  "I  tied 
her  with  a  rope,  put  her  in  the  stall,  and  threw  in  some  grass." 
"You  did  not  act  right,  Hans;  you  should  have  cast  sheep's 
eyes  at  her."     "Is  that  so?    Well,  I  will  do  that  now." 

So  Hans  went  to  the  barn,  took  all  the  eyes  out  of  the 
sheep,  and  threw  them  in  Greth-el's  face.  That  made  Greth-el 
so  cross  that  she  broke  loose,  ran  a-way,  and  be-came  the  bride 
of  some  one  else. 


THE  WEDDING   OF   MRS.    FOX 

ONCE  on  a  time  there  was  a  fox  who  had  nine  tails.  One 
day  he  took  it  in-to  his  head  to  play  a  trick  on  his  wife, 
and  by  means  of  it  find  out  how  fond  she  was  of  him.  So  he 
laid  him -self  out  on  a  bench,  and  kept  as  stiff  and  still  as  if 
he  were  dead.  Mrs.  Fox  felt  quite  sad  when  she  found  him, 
and  went  to  her  room  and  shut  her-self  in,  leav-ing  the  house 
in  charge  of  her  maid,  a  young  cat. 

The  news  spread  that  Mr.  Fox  was  dead,  and  it  was  not 
long  be -fore  there  was  a  knock  at  the  door.  The  maid  went 
to  the  door,  and  saw  there  a  fine  young  fox,  who  asked,  "Is 
Mrs.  Fox  in?" 

The  maid  said,   "She  is   so  full  of  grief  for   her   hus-band, 


THE  WEDDING   OF  MRS.   FOX 


93 


that  she  stays  in  her   room,  and  will  see  no  one.     If  you  wish 
to  send  word  to  her,  you  must  tell  me  what  it  is." 

"All  right,"  said   the  fox.     "Go  and   tell   her  that  a  young 
fox  has  come  to  woo  her." 

Up  stairs  goes  the  cat,  pit-pat ! 
pit-pat !    She  knocks  at  the  door, 
rat-tat-tat!     rat-tat-tat!        "Are 
you  there,   Mrs.   Fox?' 

"Yes,     my    dear, 
good  cat,"  said 
**~l         Mr;.   Fox. 


/!-»/,  ft 


«> 


ip^&s^MM^ 


A    FINE    YOUNG    FOX    COMES. 

AND    ASKS.     "IS     MRS.     FOX    IN7' 


94  THE  WEDDING  OF  MRS.  FOX 

"There  is  a  young  fox  down -stairs,  come  to  woo  you." 

"What  does  he  look  like?"  asked  Mrs.  Fox.    "Has  he  nine 
fine  tails,  like  my  poor  dead  hus-band?" 
■    "Oh,  no,"  said  the  maid,   "he  has  but  one." 

"Then  I  will  not  have  him,"  said  Mrs.  Fox. 

So  the  cat  went  down  and  sent  the  fox  off;  but  soon  came 
a  sec-ond  tap  at  the  door,  from  a  fox  who  had  two  tails,  and 
wished  to  woo  Mrs.  Fox.  His  fate  was  the  same  as  that  of 
the  first  one. 

Then  came  six  more,  one  at  a  time,  each  with  one  tail  more 
than  he  who  came  be-fore  him,  but  they  were  all  sent  off. 
But  at  last  came  a  fox  who  had  nine  fine  tails,  like  the  dead 
one.  When  Mrs.  Fox  heard  of  it,  she  said,  full  of  joy,  to  the 
cat,  "Now  you  may  o-pen  wide  the  win-do ws  and  doors,  and 
turn  the  old  fox  out  of  the  house." 

But  just  then  the  old  fox  roused  from  his  sleep  on  the  bench, 
and  beat  the  whole  lot  of  them,  his  wife  and  all,  till  he  drove 
them  out  of  the  house. 

SECOND  TALE 

YT7HEN  old  Mr.  Fox  died,  a  wolf  came  to  the  door  and 
»  »  knocked,  and  the  cat,  who  was  maid  to  Mrs.  Fox, 
went  to  the  door.  "Good-day,  Miss  Cat,"  he  said.  "How 
does  it  come  to  pass  that  you  are  a-lone?  Is  Mrs.  Fox  not  at 
home?" 


good  old  lady,"  said  the  princess,  "what  are  : 


THE   WEDDING   OF   MRS.   FOX  95 

"She  stays  in  her  room,  and  nei-ther  eats,  nor  drinks,  nor 
sleeps,  she  is  so  full  of  grief  for  Mr.  Fox. 

Then   the   wolf  said,    "If  she   would   like   to  wed  a  sec-ond 
time,    she    ought    to   come 
down  and  see  me. 

So   the    cat    ran    up    the 
stairs  and  through  the  hall 
till  she  came  to  Mrs.  Fox's 
room.       She 
knocked     five 
times    on    the 
door  and  asked, 
"Is  Mrs.  Fox 
at    home  ?     If 

j  l  MRS.    FOX   ASKED,    "DOES    HE   WEAR    RED   STOCKINGS?" 

so,      and     she 

would  like  to  wed  a  sec-ond  time,  she  must  come  down-stairs, 

for  a  wolf  who  would  woo  her  is  at  the  door." 

Mrs.  Fox  asked  "Does  he  wear  red  stock-ings,  and  has  he 
a  point-ed  nose? '' 

"No,"  said  the  cat. 

"Then  I  will  not  have  him,"  said  Mrs.  Fox,  and  she  shut 
the  door. 

The  wolf  was  sent  off,  and  then  there  came  in  turn,  a  dog, 
a  stag,  a  hare,  a  bear,  and  a  horse,  but  they  all  had  the  same 
ill  luck. 


96  CINDERELLA 

At  last  a  young  fox  came,  and  when  Mrs.  Fox  asked,  "Has 
he  red  stock-ings  and  a  point-ed  nose?"  the  cat  said,  "Yes." 
She  was  told  to  let  him  in  and  pre-pare  for  the  wed-ding. 

Then  they  threw  the  old  fox  out  of  the  door,  and  the  cat 
caught  and  ate  all  the  mice  she  could  in  hon-or  of  the  glad 
e-vent.  And  af-ter  the  mar-riage  they  had  a  grand  ball,  and 
for  all  I  know  they  are  dan-cing  still. 


CINDERELLA 

THERE  was  once  a  rich  man's  wife  who  was  quite  ill,  and 
as  she  felt  that  her  end  was  near,  she  called  her  one 
daugh-ter  to  her  bed-side,  and  said,  "My  dear  child,  be  a  good 
girl,  and  the  dear  God  will  take  care  of  you,  and  I  will  look 
down  on  you  from  heav-en  and  think  of  you."  Soon  af-ter 
this  she  died. 

Each  day  the  girl  went  to  her  moth-er's  grave  and  wept.  She 
kept  her  last  words  in  mind,  and  was  good  and  kind  to  all 
a -round  her.  Win-ter  came  and  clothed  the  earth  in  a  soft 
white  robe,  but  when  the  warm  rays  of  spring  had  caused  the 
snow  to  melt  from  the  moth-er's  grave,  the  hus-band  took  a 
new  wife. 

The  wife  brought  home  with  her  two  daugh-ters  of  her  own, 
who  were   fair   in   face,  but   black   and   mean   at   heart.     Now 


CINDERELLA 


97 


came  a  sad  time  for  the 
poor  step-child. 

"Is  the  goose  to  sit 
in  the  same  room  with 
us  ? ' '  said  the  two  daugh 
ters.  "They  who  eat 
bread  must  earn  it.  Out 
with  you  !  Go  help  the  lv,, 
kitch-en  maid !" 

They     took     off   her 
clothes,    and    gave    her 
an   old   gray  dress,  and 
shoes  of  wood.    She  had 
to  stay  in  the  kitch-en 
and  work  hard  all  day. 
At  night,  when  she  was  '3S)J(j&{» 
tired,    she    had   no   bed 
to  lie  on,  but   must  lie 
down  in  the  cin-ders  on 
the   hearth.     This  gave 
her  such   a  dir-ty  look 
that    the    sis-ters,    who 
were  al-ways  glad  to   have  a  chance  to  in-sult  her,  called  her 
Cin-der-el-la. 

One  day  the   fa-ther  wished  to  go  to   the   fair,  so  he   asked 


CINDERELLA    AT   HER    MOTHER'S   GRAVE. 


98  CINDERELLA 

his  two  step-daugh-ters  what  he  should  bring   them.     "A  fine 
dress,"  said  one.     "Pearls  and  jew-els,"  said  the  oth-er. 

"And  you,  Cin-.der-el-la, "  said  he,  "what  shall  I  bring  you?" 

"The  first  twig  that  hits  your  hat  on  your  way  home, 
fa-ther,  break  off  and  bring  to  me,"  said  she. 

So  he  brought  the  dress  and  the  pearls  for  his  step-daugh- 
ters, and  on  his  way  home,  as  he  rode  through  a  wood,  a 
ha-zel  bough  struck  his  hat,  and  he  broke  it  off  and  took  it 
with  him. 

Cin-der-el-la  thanked  him  for  the  twig,  and  went  at  once  to 
plant  it  on  her  mother's  grave.  The  poor  girl  wept  long,  and 
her  tears  fell  like  wa-ter  on  the  twig,  so  that  it  grew  to  a  tree. 
Three  times  a  day  Cin-der-el-la  went  to  it  to  weep  and  pray,  and 
each  time  a  lit-tle  white  bird  flew  on  the  tree ;  and  if  she 
spoke  a  wish  out  lou  1,  the  bird  threw  down  what  she  wished 
for. 

Aft-er  a  time  it  fell  out  that  the  king  made  up  his  mind  to 
give  a  grand  ball.  It  was  to  last  three  days,  and  all  the  fair 
young  la-dies  of  the  land  were  asked  to  come,  that  the  king's 
son  might  choose  |rom  them  a  bride. 

When  the  two  s£ep-sis-ters  heard  that  they  might  go,  they 
were  glad.  They  called  Cin-der-el-la,  and  said,  "Comb  our 
hair,  brush  our  shoes,  and  hook  our  gowns,  for  we  are  to  go 
to  the  ball  at  the  king's  pal-ace." 

Cin-der-el-la  did  as  they  told  her,  but  wept  to  think  that  she 


CINDERELLA 


99 


too  could  not  go  to  the  ball.  She  asked  her  step-moth-er  to 
let  her  go  with  them,  but  the  step-moth-er  mocked  her,  and 
said,  "You,  Cin-der-el-la,  black  with  dirt  and  soot  1  You  have 
no  clothes  or  shoes,  and  how  can  you  dance?" 


THE    BIRDS    PICK    UP  THE   SEEDS    FOR    CINDERELLA. 

But  Cin-der-el-la  still  begged  to  be  let  go,  so  at  last  the 
step-moth-er  said,  "I  have  just  thrown  a  dish  of  flax-seed  in- 
to the  ash-es.  If  you  will  have  it  all  picked  out  in  two  hours, 
you  may  go  with  them." 


1 00  CINDERELLA 


Then  Cin-der-el-la  ran  out  at  the  back  door  in-to  the  gar-den, 
and  called  out,  "You  tame  doves,  and  all  you  birds  of  the  air, 
come  and  help  me  pick  up  the  seeds. 


Put  the  good  ones  in  the  pot, 
And  the  bad  ones  in  your  crop." 

Then  there  flew  in  at  the  kitch-en  win-dow  two  white  doves, 
and  then  all  the  birds  of  the  air  came  chirp-ing  in  down  up-on 
the  ash-es.  They  then  be-gan,  pick,  pick,  pick,  and  soon  all 
the  good  seeds  were  gath-ered  in  the  dish.  With  great  joy 
Cin-der-el-la  took  the  dish  to  her  step-moth-er.  But  the  step- 
moth-er  said,  "No  Cin-der-el-la,  you  have  no  clothes  and  you 
do  not  know  how  to  dance.     All  would  laugh  at  you." 

Still  Cin-der-el-la  cried  and  begged  to  go,  and  at  last  the 
step-moth-er  said,  "I  will  throw  twice  as  much  flax-seed  in 
the  ash-es,  and  if  you  have  it  all  picked  up  in  one  hour,  I 
will  let  you  go."  But  she  thought  to  her-self,  "She  can  not 
do  that." 

The  birds  a-gain  helped  Cin-der-el-la,  and  the  seed  was  all 
picked  up  in  half  an  hour.  But  when  she  went  to  the  step- 
moth-er  she  broke  her  word  once  more,  and  would  not  let 
her  go. 

When  the  two  proud  sis-ters  and  their  moth-er  had  gone  to 
the  ball,  Cin-der-el-la  went  out  to  her  moth-er's  grave,  and 
sat  down  un-der  the  ha-zel  tree,  and  cried, 


CINDERELLA  101 

"  Rus-tle  and  shake,  dear  lit-tle  tree ; 
Gold  and  sil-ver  throw  o-ver  me." 

Then  the  bird  threw  down  a  dress  of  gold  and  sil-ver,  and 
a  pair  of  small  silk  slip-pers  worked  with  sil-ver.  These  Cin- 
der-el-la put  on  in  great  haste,  and  then  she  went  to  the  ball. 
Her  step-moth-er  and  sis-ters  did  not  know  her,  and  thought 
it  must  be  some  strange  prin-cess,  so  grand  did  she  look  in  her 
fine  dress.  The  prince  met  her  as  she  came  in,  and  led  her 
through  the  dance,  nor  would  he  dance  with  an-y  one  else  all 
the  eve-ning. 

When  it  grew  late  and  she  wished  to  go  home,  the  prince 
said,  "I  will  go  with  you  and  see  you  safe,"  for  he  wished  to 
find  out  to  whom  she  be-longed.  They  reached  a  hen-house, 
and  Cin-der-el-la  sprang  in-to  it ;  so  the  prince  wait-ed  till  her 
fa-ther  came  home.  He  told  him  a  strange  maid-en  had  run 
in-to  the  pig-eon  house,  and  an  axe  was  brought  to  break  in- 
to the  house,  but  no  one  was  there.  When  they  came  to  the 
house,  there  lay  Cin-der-el-la  in  her  dir-ty  frock,  for  she  had 
jumped  out  of  the  hen-house  on  the  far  side,  and  run  to  the 
ha-zel  tree,  where  she  had  left  her  fine  dress  for  the  bird  to 
take  a-way. 

The  next  day,  Cin-der-el-la  went  to  the  tree  a-gain,  when 
the  step-moth-er  and  sis-ters  had  gone  to  the  ball,  and  a  dress 
more  grand  and  rich  than  the  first  was  thrown  down  to  her. 
The   prince   danced  with    her   a-gain   all   the   eve-ning.     When 


102 


CINDERELLA 


THERE    LAY   CINDERELLA    IN    HER 
DIRTY   FROCK. 


she  went  home,  he  fol-lowed  her,  but 
when  she  reached  a  pear  tree  that 
grew  near  her  fa-ther's  house,  he  lost 
sight  of  her.  When  the  fa-ther  came 
home,  the  prince  told  him  that  the 
strange  maid-en  had  a-gain  fled  from 
him,  and  that  he  thought  she  was  in 
the  pear  tree.  The  fa-ther  thought, 
"Could  it  have  been  Cin-der-el-la ? " 
He  cut  down  the  tree  with  an  axe, 
but  no  one  was  to  be  found.  When 
they  went  in-to  the  house,  Cin-der-el-la 
was  in  her  place,  for  she  had  sprung 
down  on  the  far  side  of  the  pear  tree, 
left  her  fine  dress  with  the  bird,  and 
put  on  her  old  gray  frock. 

On  the  third  day  she  went  a-gain 
to  the  ball.  This  time  the  bird  threw 
down  the  most  splen-did  dress  of  all, 
and  the  slip-pers  were  of  pure  gold. 
The  prince  danced  on-ly  with  Cin-der- 
el-la,  and  when  the  time  came  to 
leave,  he  would  have  gone  with  her, 
but  she  ran  with  such  speed  that  he 
could  not  keep  up  with  her.     But  the 


CINDERELLA  103 

prince  had  had  the  steps  spread  with  pitch,  in  hopes  to  catch 
the  strange  maid-en  and  as  Cin-der-el-la  ran,  her  left  slip-per 
stuck  to  the  pitch  and  came  off. 

The  prince  picked  it  up  and  saw  that  it  was  small  and  of 
pure  gold.  The  next  day  he  went  to  Cin-der-el-la's  fa-ther  and 
said,  "My  bride  shall  be  the  one  whose  foot  this  slip-per  fits." 
The  two  sis-ters  were  glad  when  they  heard  this,  for  they  had 
small  feet.  The  eld-er  one  took  the  slip-per  first,  and  went  to 
her  room  to  try  it  on,  but  she  could  not  get  her  big  toe  in -to 
it.  The  moth-er  who  stood  by,  said,  "Cut  your  toe  off,  for 
when  you  are  queen  you  need  not  go  on  foot." 

The  daugh-ter  cut  off  her  toe,  squeezed  her  foot  in-to  the 
slip-per,  and  hid-ing  her  pain,  went  down  to  the  prince.  Then 
he  placed  her  as  his  bride  up-on  his  horse,  and  rode  off.  But 
as  they  passed  the  grave  of  Cin-der-el-la's  moth-er,  two  white 
doves  sat  on  the  ha-zel  tree,  and  cried. 

"Turn  and  look,  turn  and  look, 
There's  blood  up-on  the  shoe; 
The  shoe's  too  small,  and  she  be-hind 
Is  not  the  bride  for  you." 

He  turned  and  looked  at  her  foot,  and  saw  the  blood  that 
flowed  from  the  shoe.  He  turned  his  horse  at  once,  and  took 
the  false  bride  home,  say-ing  she  was  not  the  right  one,  that 
the  oth-er  sis-ter  must  try  the  slip-per  on.     The  young-er   one 


s 


4? 


104 


CINDERELLA 


took  it  to  her  room,  and  to  her  joy  her  toes  went  in,  but  she 
could  not  get  the  slip-per  o-ver  her  heel.  The  moth-er  said  ; 
"Cut  off  a  piece   of  your   heel,  for  when  you   are   queen  you 

need  not  go  on  foot." 

The  daugh-ter  did  so,  squeezed  her  foot 
in -to  the  slip-per,  and  went  down  to  the 
prince.  Then  he  put  her  up-on  his  horse 
as  his  bride,  and  rode  off.  But  they  too 
must  pass  the  ha-zel  tree,  where  the  two 
doves  sat.     A-gain  they  cried, 

- 
"Turn  and  look,  turn  and  look, 

■ 

There's  blood  up-on  the  shoe; 
The  shoe's  too  small,  and  she  be-hind 
Is  not  the  bride  for  you." 

He  looked  down  at  her  foot,  and  saw 
that  the  blood  was  trick-ling  from  her 
shoe.  He  turned  his  horse  once  more, 
and  brought  the  false  bride  home.  ' '  This 
is  not  the  right  one,"  he  said  to  the 
fath-er.      "Have  you  no  oth-er  daugh-ter?" 

"No,"  said  the   fa-ther,   "ex-cept  the  daugh-ter  of  my  first 
wife;  but  she  can-not  be  the  bride." 

The  prince  asked  to  see  her,  but  the  step-moth-er  said,  "Oh, 
no!  she  is  much  too  dir-ty ;  I  dare  hot  let  her  be  seen." 


THE   LOST  SLIPPER. 


V 


L 


CINDERELLA 


105 


But  the  prince  would  have  his  way,  and  Cin-der-el-la  was 
called.  She  washed  her  hands  and  face,  and  went  in,  bow-ing 
to  the  prince,  who  gave 
her  the  gold  slip-per.  She 
sat  down  and  put  on 
the  slip-per,  which  was  a 
per -feet  fit  for  her. 

The  prince  looked  in  her 
face,  and  saw  that  she  was 
the  fair  maid-en  with  whom 
he  had  danced,  so  he  said : 
' '  This  is  my  true  bride  ! ' ' 
The  step-moth-er  and  two 
sis-ters  turned  white  with 
rage,  but  the  prince  took 
Cin-der-el-la  up-on  his  horse 
and  rode  off.  As  they  came 
to  the  ha-zel  tree,  the  two 

white    doves    Cried  :  the  prince  rides  away  with  Cinderella. 

"Turn  and  look,  turn  and  look, 

There's  no  blood  up-on  the  shoe; 
It  fits  so  nice,  and  she  be-hind 
Is  the  right-ful  bride  for  you." 

Cin-de-rel-la  and  the  prince  were  soon  mar-ried,  and  all  went 
well  with  them  to  the  end  ot  their  lives. 


106 

A   SET  OF  ROGUES 

ONE  day  in  fall   the  cock   said   to   the   hen,   ' '  Now  is   the 
time  when  nuts  are  ripe ;  let  us  go  up  there  on  the  hill 
and  eat  what  we  want  be-fore  the  squir-rel  gets  them  all." 
Oh,  yes, ' '  said  the  hen,    '  *  let  us  go  ;  it  will  be  fine  fun  I ' ' 

So  they  went  to  the  hill,  and  as  it  was  a  fine  day  they  stayed 
till  night.  It  may  have  been  that  they  ate  too  much,  or  that 
they  grew  proud ;  at  all  e -vents  they  would  not  walk  home,  so 
the  cock  had  to  make  a  small  cart  of  nut-shells. 

When  it  was  made  the  hen  sat  in  it,  and  said  to  the  cock, 
"Now  you  may  draw  me  home." 

"You  are  too  kind,"  said  the  cock.  "I  would  do  quite  as 
well  to  go  home  on  foot  a-lone.  I  would  be  will-ing  to  sit  on 
the  box  and  drive,  but  draw  the  coach  I  will  not." 

At  this  point  a  duck  that  was  there  quacked  out,  "You 
thieves,  who  said  you  could  come  to  my  nut-hill?  You  shall 
pay  dear  for  this  ! ' '  and  she  rushed  at  the  cock  to  strike  him 
with  her  bill.  But  he  stood  his  ground,  and  struck  her  so 
hard  with  his  spurs  that  she  soon  begged  for  mer-cy,  and  let 
her-self  be  hitched  to  the  cart  to  make  up  for  her  rude-ness. 

The  cock  took  his  seat  on  the  box,  and  ofT  they  drove,  the 
cock  cry-ing  out,   "Run,  duck,  run,  as  fast  as  you  can!" 

When  they  had  gone  a  short  part  of  the  way,  they  met  two 


A  SET  OF   ROGUES 


107 


foot-men,    a   pin    and   a   nee-dle.     "Stop,    stop!"    they   cried. 
"Won't   you   let  us  ride  with   you?     It  will   soon  be  so  dark 
that  we  can  not  see  a  step  in  front  of  us." 
As  the   cock  saw   that 
were 
would 


THE  COCK  TOOK  HIS  SEAT  ON  THE  BOX,  AND  OFF  THEY  DROVE. 

room,  he  said  they  might  get  in  if  they 
"#^.?P^      would  not  step  on  the  hen's  toes. 

*"'  When  it  was  quite  dark  they  came  to  an  inn, 

and  they  thought  they  would  stop  for  the  night.  The  man 
who  kept  the  inn  did  not  want  them  for  guests,  but  they  said 
they  would  give  him  the  egg  which  the  hen  had  laid  on  the 


106  A  SET  OF  ROGUES 

road,  and  the  one  the  duck  would  lay  in   the  morn-ing,  so  he 
told  them  at  last  they  might  stay. 

Next  day  at  dawn  the  cock  and  hen  ate  the  egg  the  first 
thing,  and  threw  the  shell  in-to  the  fire.  Then  they  took  the 
nee-dle  and  stuck  her  in  the  seat  of  a  chair.  The  pin  they 
put  in  the  tow-el,  and  then  they  both  left  the  house.  The 
duck,  who  had  slept  in  the  yard,  heard  them  as  they  flew  past, 
and  went  down  to  the  brook  and  swam  a-way. 

When  the  man  who  kept  the  inn  rose,  he  washed  his  face 
and  then  took  the  tow-el  to  dry  it,  but  he  drew  the  point  of 
the  pin  a -cross  it  and  left  a  long  scratch  from  ear  to  ear. 
Then  he  went  to  the  fire  to  light  his  pipe,  and  the  egg-shell 
popped  in-to  his  eyes.  That  vexed  him  and  he  sat  down  in 
the  chair.  He  at  once  sprang  in-to  the  air,  for  the  nee-dle 
had  pricked  him  worse  than  the  pin  had  scratched  him.  He 
was  now  in  a  rage,  and  as  he  thought  the  guests  who  had 
come  so  late  in  the  night  must  be  to  blame,  he  ran  to  look 
for  them  and  found  they  were  gone. 

Then  he  made  a  vow  that  this  would  be  the  last  time  he 
would  let  such  a  set  of  rogues  in-to  his  house  —  folks  who  ate 
so  much,  paid  noth-ing,  and  for  thanks  played  mean  tricks. 


LITTLE  RED  CAP 

/'"ANCE  on  a  time,  there  was  on  a  farm,  close  to  a  small  town, 
^*S  a  girl  who  was  as  sweet  a  child  as  there  is  in  the  whole 
world.  Her  moth-er,  of  course,  had  a  great  deal  of  love  for 
her,  and  her  grand-moth -er  was  still  more  fond  of  her.  The 
good  dame  made  for  her,  one  day,  a  bright  red  hood.  It  was 
just  the  right  size  for  her,  and  it  made  her  look  so  sweet  that 
they  gave  her  the  name  of  Lit -tie  Red  Cap. 

One  day  when  her  moth-er  had  made  some  cheese  cakes,  she 
said  to  her,  "Go,  my  child,  and  see  how  your  grand-moth-er 
does,  for  I  hear  she  is  ill ;  take  her  some  of  these  cakes,  and 
a  pat  of  but-ter." 

Lit-tle  Red  Cap,  with  a  small  basket  on  her  arm,  in  which 
were  the  cakes  her  moth-er  had  made,  and  the  pat  of  butter, 
set  out  straight  for  her  grand-moth-er's  house,  which  was  in  a 
small  town  not  far  from  where  Lit-tle  Red  Cap's  moth-er  had 
her  home.  As  she  went  through  a  wood,  which  lay  in  her 
road,  she  met  a  large  wolf,  which  had  a  great  mind  to  eat  her 
up,  but  did  not  dare  to,  for  fear  of  some  men,  who  were  at 
work  at  a  tree,  which  they  had  to  cut  down,  in  the  wood, 
not  far  from  where  Lit-tle  Red  Cap  and  the  wolf  were. 

The  wolf  spoke  to  her  and  told  her  he  would  like  to  know 
where  she  meant  to  go  with  her  bas-ket.     The  child,  who  did 


110  LITTLE  RED  CAP 

not  know  that  it  was  not 
wise  to  stop  and  speak  to 
a  wolf,  and  said:  "I  am 
on  my  way  to  see  my 
grand-moth-er ;  my  moth- 
er gave  me  these  cakes 
and  this  pat  of  but-ter, 
to  take  to  her,  for  we 
have  heard  that  she  is  ill. " 

"Does  she  live  a  great 
way  off?"  said  the  wolf. 

"Oh  yes,"  said  Lit-tle 
Red  Cap,  "the  mill  that 
you  see  there,  hides  her 
house  from  us ;  it  is  the 
first  house  in  the  town." 

"Well,"  said  the  wolf, 
"we  will  have  a  race;  I 
will  take  this  way  and 
you  may  take  that,  and 
we  shall  see  which  will 
be  there  first." 

The  wolf  set  out  at  full  speed,  and  ran  as  fast  as  he  could 
all  the  way;  the  way  he  took  was  not  much  more  than  half 
as  long  as  the  way  Lit-tle  Red  Cap  took ;  and  as  she  went  on, 


LITTLE    RED   CAP   MEETS  A  WOLF. 


LITTLE  RED  CAT 


III 


LITTLE  RED  CAP  PICKS  A  BUNCH  OF  WILD  FLOWERS. 


from  time  to  time  she  knelt  down  on  the  ground  to  pick  up 
nuts ;  then  she  would  run  to  try  to  catch  the  young  hares  that 
ran  near  her,  and  she  made  a  gay  bunch  of  wild  pinks. 

The  wolf  got   first  to  the   house  of  the  grand -moth -er,  and 
gave  a  loud  knock  at  the  door. 


112  LITTLE  RED   CAP 

"Who  is  there?"  said  a  voice  in  the  house. 

"It  is  Lit -tie  Red  Cap,"  said  the  wolf,  and  he  tried  to  make 
his  great  gruff  voice  sound  like  the  sweet  voice  of  the  child. 
"I  have  brought  you  a  small  pat  of  but-ter  and  some  nice 
cheese  cakes  that  moth-er  has  just  made,  for  she  heard  that 
you  were  ill." 

The  good  old  dame,  who  was  ill  in  bed,  cried  out,  "Pull 
the  string  and  the  latch  will  fly  up." 

The  wolf  gave  a  hard  pull  at  the  string,  and  up  went  the 
latch.  He  went  in,  and  up  to  the  poor  old  grand-moth-er's 
room,  sprang  on  the  bed  and  ate  her  up  in  a  trice,  for  it  was 
three  days  since  he  had  had  a  meal. 

The  wolf  put  on  the  good  old  dame's  night  cap  and  dress, 
shut  the  door  of  the  room,  and  then  lay  down  in  the  bed  to 
wait  for  Lit-tle  Red  Cap.  He  had  not  long  been  in  bed  when 
she  came  to  the  house.  Tap  1  tap!  "Who  is  there?"  cried 
he.  At  first  she  was  full  of  fear,  when  she  heard  the  gruff 
voice  of  the  wolf,  but  she  thought  it  might  be  that  her  grand- 
moth -er  had  a  cold,  so  she  said,  "It  is  I;  it  is  Lit-tle  Red 
Cap.  Moth-er  has  sent  you  some  cheese  cakes  and  a  small 
pat  of  but-ter." 

The  wolf  made  his  voice  as  soft  as  he  could  as  he  cried  out, 
"Pull  the  string  and  the  latch  will  fly  up."  Lit-tle  Red  Cap 
gave  a  pull  to  the  string  and  up  went  the  latch.  When  she 
came   up   stairs    to   her    grand-moth-er's    room   the  wolf  kept 


LITTLE  RED  CAP 


113 


THE  WOLF   IN    BED. 


quite  hid  in  the  bed.  Then  he  tried  to  speak  as  if  he  were 
ill  and  quite  weak;  and  said,  "Put  the  bas-ket  on  the  stool 
my  dear,  and  take  off  your  clothes,  and  come  to  me  in  the  bed." 
Lit-tle  Red  Cap,  who  at  all  times  did  just  as  she  was  bid, 
at  once  took  off  her  clothes  and  went  to  bed.  But  when  she 
came  to  see  the  wolf  near  by,  she  thought  her  grand-moth -er 
did  not  look  like  her-self  at  all. 


114 


LITTLE   RED   CAP 


"Dear  me,  grand-moth -er, "  she  said, 
''  what  great,  big  arms  you  have  got ! ' ' 
"The  bet-ter  to  hug  you,  my  child," 
said  the  wolf. 

"But,  grand -moth -er, "  said  Red  Cap, 
"  what  great  big  ears  you  have  got ! ' ' 
"The  bet-ter  to  hear  you,  my  child," 
said  the  wolf. 

But  then,  grand-moth-er,  what  great 
big  eyes  you  have  got,"  said  Red  Cap. 
"The  bet-ter  to  see  you,  my  child," 
said  the  wolf. 

"And,  oh,  grand-moth-er  what 
great  —  big  —  teeth  —  you've  —  got  1 " 
said  the  poor  child,  who  by  this  time 
was  full  of  fear. 

"The  bet-ter  to  eat  you  up,"  said 
the  wolf  with  a  fierce  growl,  and  with 
one  leap,  he  sprang  out  of  the  bed, 
seized  Lit-tle  Red  Cap,  and  was  a-bout 
to  eat  her  up ;  when  a  shot  was  heard,  and  the  wolf  fell  dead. 
A  hunt-er  who  had  come  that  way,  heard  the  voices  in  the 
house,  and  looked  in  through  the  win-dow  in  time  to  see  the 
dan-ger  the  child  was  in.  In  a  trice  he  had  aimed  and  fired 
his  gun,  and  thus  Lit-tle  Red  Cap's  life  was  saved. 


THE    HUNTER. 


115 

RUMPELSTILTSKIN 

THERE  was  once  a  mil-ler  who  was  as  poor  as  poor  could 
be,  but  he  had  a  daugh-ter  who  was  quite  fair  of  face, 
One  day  he  chanced  to  meet  the  king,  and  as  he  felt  like 
boas -ting,  he  said,  "I  have  a  girl  that  can  spin  gold  out  of 
straw. ' ' 

The  king  said  to  him,  "That  is  an  art  in  which  few  have 
skill ;  if  your  child  is  as  smart  as  you  say,  bring  her  to  my 
cas-tle  in  a  day  or  two,  and  I  will  try  what  she  can  do." 

When  the  girl  was  brought  to  the  king,  he  led  her  to  a  room 
that  was  full  of  straw,  and  gave  her  a  wheel  with  which  to 
spin.  "Now  go  to  work,"  he  said.  "If  you  do  not  spin  all 
this  straw  in-to  gold  in  one  day,  you  shall  die."  With  these 
words  he  shut  the  door  and  left  her  there. 

She  could  not  see  how  she  was  to  save  her  life,  for  she  did 
not  know  how  to  spin  gold  out  ot  straw.  She  thought  a  long 
time,  and  her  fear  and  grief  were  so  great  that  she  wept. 
Then  all  at  once  the  door  o-pened,  and  in  came  a  ti-ny  dwarf. 
Why  do  you  weep,  my  poor  child  ?  "  he  asked. 
Oh  ! ' '  said  the  girl,  ' '  I  have  got  to  spin  gold  out  of  this 
straw,  and  I  do  not  know  how." 

'What  will   you  give   me,"  asked   the  dwarf,    "if  I  spin  it 
for  you?'' 


116  RUMPELSTILTSKIN 

"My  gold  chain,"  said  the  girl. 

The  dwarf  took  the  chain,  and  then  sat  down  at  the  wheel. 
Whirr,  whirr,  whirr,  three  times  round  went  the  wheel,  and 
the  spool  was  full.  He  put  on  an-oth-er,  and — whirr,  whirr, 
whirr,  that  one  was  full ;  and  so  on  all  through  the  night,  till 
the  straw  was  all  gone  and  the  spools  full  of  gold. 

When  the  king  came  and  saw  it  he  was  glad.  But  his  heart 
was  full  of  greed  for  gold,  and  he  took  the  girl  to  a  room  in 
which  was  more  straw.  "You  must  spin  this  too,  in  one  day," 
said  he,   "or  you  lose  your  life." 

The  girl  was  full  of  grief,  but  as  she  wept,  the  door  o-pened 
and  in  came  the  dwarf,  who  said,  "What  will  you  give  me  if 
I  spin  the  straw  in-to  gold?  ' 

"My  ring,"  said  the  girl. 

The  dwarf  took  the  ring  and  went  to  work.  He  spun  all 
night,  and  then  the  straw  was  all  changed  to  gold. 

The  king  was  full  of  joy,  but  wished  for  still  more  gold.  He 
led  the  girl  to  an-oth-er  room  full  of  straw  and  said,  "All  this 
you  must  spin  to-night.  If  you  do  so,  I  will  make  you  my 
wife. ' ' 

When  the  girl  was  a -lone,  the  dwarf  came  for  a  third  time, 
and  asked,   "What  will  you  give  me  if  I  spin  it  for  you?" 

"I  have  not  a  thing  left  to  give  you,"  said  the  girl. 

'Then  you  will  have  to  give  me  your  first  child  when  you 
are  queen,"  said  he. 


RUMPELSTILTSK1N 


17 


RUMPELSTILTSKIN    DANCING, 


The  girl  said  she  would  do  so,  and  the  dwarf  set  to  work 
and  soon  spun  the  gold.  When  the  king  came  and  found  all 
he  wished  for  done,  he  was  pleased,  and  made  the  girl  his  wife 
at  once. 

In  a  year,  by  which  time  she  had  ceased  to  think  of  the 
dwarf,  she  had  a  child.  But  in  a  few  days  the  dwarf  came  to 
her  room,  and  said,  "Now  give  me  what  you  said  you  would." 


118  RUMPELSTILTSKIN 

In  great  fright  the  queen  said  she  would  give  him  all  her 
wealth  if  he  would  leave  the  child  to  her,  but  he  said  he 
would  not. 

The  queen  wept  and  groaned  so  much  at  this  that  the  dwarf 
at  length  felt  sor-ry  for  her,  so  he  said,  "I  will  give  you  three 
days,  and  if  in  that  time  you  find  out  my  name,  you  shall 
keep  your  child." 

All  night  long  the  queen  racked  her  brains  for  all  the  names 
she  could  think  of,  and  when  the  dwarf  came  the  next  day 
she  told  him  a  lot,  but  at  each  the  dwarf  said,  "That  is  not 
my  name." 

The  next  day  when  the  dwarf  came  she  had  more  names, 
but  to  all  he  still  said,   "It  is  not  my  name." 

Then  she  sent  out  a  man  through  the  land  to  see  if  he 
could  find  names  that  she  had  not  yet  used.  When  he  came 
back  he  said,  "I  have  found  no  names,  but  as  I  came  to  a 
high  hill  near  the  edge  of  a  wood,  I  saw  a  small  house,  in 
front  of  which  a  fire  burned,  and  round  this  fire  a  small  old 
man  danced  on  one  leg  and  sang : 

"  To-day  I  brew,  and  then  I  bake, 
To-mor-row  I  shall  the  queen's  child  take ; 
Oh  !  how  glad  I  am  that  no  one  knows 
That  Rum-pel-stilts-kin  is  my  name." 

When  the  queen  heard  this  she  was  full  of  joy.  The  dwarf 
came  the  next  day  and  said : 


THE  TWELVE   BROTHERS  119 

"Now,  my  lady  queen,  what  is  my  name?" 

First  she  said  "Is  it  John?" 

"No,"  said  he. 

"Is  it  James?" 

"No." 

"May-be  it  is  Rum-pel-stilts-kin." 

"A  witch  has  told  you  1  a  witch  has  told  you  !"  he  screamed, 
and  stamped  his  right  foot  so  hard  in  the  ground  that  he  sank 
in  up  to  his  waist.  Then  in  a  great  rage  he  took  hold  of  his 
left  leg  with  both  hands  to  pull  him -self  out,  and  pulled  so 
hard  that  he  tore  him-self  in  two. 

So  that  was  the  end  of  him,  and  the  queen  kept  her  child. 


THE  TWELVE  BROTHERS 

ONCE  on  a  time  there  lived  a  king  and  a  queen  who  had 
twelve  boys.  One  day  the  king  said  to  the  queen,  "If 
our  next  child  should  be  a  girl,  our  twelve  sons  must  die,  so 
that  she  may  have  the  crown." 

The  queen  was  sad,  and  mourned  day  and  night.  One  day 
the  young -est  boy,  who  was  with  her  all  the  time,  asked. 
"Dear  moth-er,  why  are  you  so  sad?" 

The  queen  would  not  tell  at  first,  but  he  kept  on  ask-ing, 
and  at  last  she  told  him  that  he  and  his  broth-ers  were  to  be 


120  THE  TWELVE  BROTHERS 

put  to  death  in  case  they  had  a  sis-ter.  He  said,  "Do  not 
weep,  dear  moth-er.  I  and  my  broth-ers  will  go  from  here,  so 
that  we  may  not  be  put  to  death." 

The  queen  said,  ' '  Yes,  go.  Stay  in  the  woods  near  by,  and 
if  a  son  is  born,  I  will  hang  out  a  white  flag,  so  that  you 
may  know  that  it  is  safe  for  you  to  come  home ;  but  if  it  is  a 
girl,  I  will  hang  out  a  red  flag,  and  then  you  must  all  fly 
hence  as  fast  as  you  can.  I  will  pray  each  night  that  you 
meet  with  no  ill  luck." 

Then  the  twelve  boys  went  to  the  woods.  Each  kept  watch 
in  turn  from  the  top  of  a  tall  oak  tree.  One  day  they  saw  a 
red  flag  hung  out,  which  meant  that  a  girl  was  born,  and  they 
must  all  die  if  they  went  home. 

Then  they  went  deep  in  the  woods,  and  there  found  a  small 
house  which  they  made  their  home.  For  food  they  shot  hares 
and  birds  and  what  else  they  could  find. 

Ten  years  passed,  and  by  that  time  the  queen's  child  had 
grown  to  be  quite  a  big  girl.  She  was  fair  of  face,  and  had  a 
kind  heart.  Once,  when  there  was  a  great  wash,  she  saw 
twelve  shirts  on  the  line,  and  she  asked  her  moth-er,  "Whose 
are  those  twelve  shirts?     They  are  too  small  for  my  fa-ther. " 

Then  the  queen  said,  with  a  sad  heart,  "My  dear  child, 
they  be-long  to  your  twelve  broth-ers." 

"Where  are  my  twelve  brothers?  This  is  the  first  time  I 
have  heard  of  them,"  said  the  child. 


THE  TWELVE  BROTHERS 


121 


ONE   DAY  THEY  SAW  A    RED    FLAG    HUNG   OUT. 


Then  the  queen  told  her  why  she  had  not  seen  them,  and 
she  wept  as  she  did  so.  "'Do  not  cry,  dear  moth-er,"  said  the 
child,   "I  will  go  forth  and  seek  my  broth-ers." 


1 22  THE  TWELVE  BROTHERS 

She  took  the  twelve  shirts  and  set  forth  for  the  wood  at 
once.  All  day  she  walked  on  and  at  night  she  came  to  the 
hut  where  her  broth-ers  lived.  She  went  in,  and  there  she 
saw  a  young  lad,  who  asked  her,  "Whence  do  you  come,  and 
what  do  you  want?" 

She  said,  "I  am  the  child  of  a  king,  and  I  seek  my  twelve 
broth-ers,  and  will  go  as  far  as  the  sky  is  blue  till  I  find  them. 
Then  she  showed  him  the  twelve  shirts  she  had  with  her,  and 
he  knew  it  must  be  his  sis-ter,  and  told  her  who  he  was.  At 
his  words  she  wept  for  joy,  and  he  wept  too. 

When  the  rest  of  the  broth-ers  came  home,  they  were  glad 
to  find  their  sis-ter  there,  and  they  kissed  her,  and  loved  her 
with  all  their  hearts. 

She  staid  at  home  with  one  of  the  broth-ers  and  took  care 
of  the  house  and  the  cook-ing,  while  the  rest  went  to  catch 
game  in  the  woods.  One  day  she  got  up  a  fine  feast.  Near 
the  house  was  a  small  gar-den  in  which  grew  twelve  lil-ies. 
She  thought  it  would  please  her  broth-ers  if  she  gave  each  of 
them  a  flow-er,  so  she  broke  ofT  the  twelve  lil-ies.  But  as  she 
did  so,  the  twelve  boys  were  changed  in -to  twelve  crows,  and 
flew  off.  The  house,  too,  was  gone,  and  the  girl  stood  a-lone 
in  a  wild  wood.  All  at  once  she  saw  an  old  wom-an,  who 
said,  "My  child,  what  have  you  done?  The  twelve  lil-ies  were 
your  broth-ers,  and  now  they  have  be-come  crows,  and  will 
stay  so." 


THE   TWELVE   BROTHERS 


!23 


THE   TWELVE    BOYS   WERE   CHANGED    INTO   TWELVE   CROWS,   AND    FLEW  OFR 

The  girl  wept,  and  asked,  "Is  there  no  way  to  set  them  free? " 

'There   is   but   one    thing   in   all  the   world,"   said  the   old 

wom-an,    "and  that  is  too  hard   for  you  to  do.     You  must  be 


724  THE  TWELVE  BROTHERS 

dumb  for  six  years.  If  you  speak  as  much  as  one  word  or 
laugh  in  all  that  time,  you  can  not  free  them." 

Then  the  girl  said  in  her  heart,  "I  know  I  shall  set  my 
broth-ers  free."  She  found  a  tall  tree  in  which  she  could  live, 
and  here  she  sat  and  spun,  but  did  not  speak  or  laugh. 

One  day  a  king  rode  by  who  had  a  dog  with  him,  and  it 
ran  to  the  tree  where  the  girl  was  and  barked.  The  king  came 
up,  and  as  soon  as  he  saw  the  fair  girl  he  fell  in  love  with 
her,  and  asked  her  if  she  would  be  his  bride.  She  made  no 
an-swer  ex-cept  to  nod  her  head.  Then  the  king  him-self 
climbed  the  tree,  brought  her  down,  and  rode  off  with  her  to 
his  pal-ace. 

The  wed -ding  soon  took  place  with  great  pomp,  but  the 
bride  did  not  speak  or  laugh. 

Two  years  that  were  full  of  joy  passed,  but  one  day  the 
king's  step-moth-er,  who  was  not  a  good  wom-an,  be-gan  to 
speak  ill  of  the  young  queen.  "This  is  some  low  girl  that 
you  have  made  your  wife,"  said  she.  "Who  knows  for  what 
crime  she  may  have  been  turned  out  of  her  home?  If  she  is 
dumb  and  can't  speak,  she  might  at  least  laugh.  One  that 
does  not  laugh  must  have  some-thing  bad  on  her  mind." 

The  king  would  not  hear  her  at  first,  but  the  old  wom-an 
talked  so  much  that  at  last  she  made  the  king  think  as  she 
did,  and  the  queen  was  doomed  to  death. 

She   was   bound   to   a   stake,  and   a  great  fire  was   made   in 


HANS  IN   LUCK  125 

which  she  was  to  burn.  But  just  as  the  flames  rose  to  scorch 
her,  the  six  years  in  which  she  was  to  be  dumb  came  to  an 
end.  She  heard  a  great  whirr  in  the  air,  and  when  she  looked 
up  she  saw  twelve  crows  that  flew  to-ward  her.  The  in-stant 
they  touched  the  earth,  they  were  changed  to  her  twelve 
broth-ers  whom  she  had  set  free. 

They  ran  up  to  the  fire,  and  drew  the  wood  from  the  pile, 
and  put  out  the  flames.  And  now  that  she  could  speak  and 
laugh,  she  told  the  king  why  she  had  been  dumb  for  six  years. 

The  king  was  glad  to  find  out  the  truth,  and  now  he  loved 
his  wife  more  than  at  first.  They  lived  in  great  joy  all  their 
lives,  but  the  bad  step-moth -er  met  the  death  to  which  she 
had  tried  to  send  the  queen. 


HANS   IN  LUCK 


HANS   had  worked   for  a  man  for  six   long  years,  and  at 
the  end  of  that  time  he  said,   "Sir,  my  time  is  up  and 
I  wish  to  go  home,  so  please  give  me  my  pay." 

"You  have  served  me  well,"  said  the  man,  "so  you  shall 
have  a  good  sum  for  your  pay,"  and  he  gave  him  a  lump 
of  gold  as  big  as  his  head.  Hans  put  the  gold  in  a  cloth,  and 
slung  it  on  his  back,  and  went  on  his  way  home. 

He   met   a   man   on  a   horse,  and   he  said   to   him   that   he 


126  HANS  IN  LUCK 

wished  he  could  ride  too.     "It  is  as  if  one  sat  in  a  chair,  and 
yet  one  gets  on,"  he  told  the  man. 

"Well,"  said  the  man,  "You  need  not  walk.  You  can 
have  my  horse  if  you  give  me  that  gold." 

"I  will  do  it,  and  thank  you,"  said  Hans. 

The  man  took  the  gold,  and  helped  Hans  to  get  up  on  the 
horse.  "When  you  want  to  go  fast,"  said  the  man,  "you 
have  just  to  click  your  tongue,  and  say  '  Get  up ! '  " 

Hans  went  on  for  a  while  at  a  slow  gait,  but  then  he 
thought  he  would  like  to  try  the  speed  of  his  horse,  so  he  be- 
gan to  click  his  tongue  and  say  ' '  Get  up ! "  The  horse  set  off 
at  a  smart  trot,  and  the  first  thing  Hans  knew  he  was  pitched 
in-to  a  ditch  that  ran  at  the  side  of  the  road.  The  horse  made 
a  start  to  run,  and  would  have  got  a-way  if  it  had  not  been 
caught  by  a  man  who  came  by,  lead-ing  a  cow. 

Hans  said  he  wished  he  had  that  cow  in  place  of  a  beast 
that  kicked  and  plunged  so  that  a  man  was  like-ly  to  break 
his  neck. 

"Well,"  said  the  man,  "I  will  give  it  to  you  for  your  horse." 

Hans  said,  "All  right,"  and  the  man  got  on  the  horse,  and 
was  soon  out  of  sight. 

Hans  was  full  of  joy  as  he  drove  his  cow  a-long.  "I  can 
now  al-ways  have  but-ter  and  cheese  with  my  bread,"  said  he, 
"and  if  I  am  dry,  I  need  but  to  milk  my  cow,  and  I  shall 
have  milk  to  drink." 


HANS  IN   LUCK 


127 


The  day  grew  hot,  and  Hans  got  dry.  "Now  is  the  time," 
he  thought,  "to  milk  my  cow,  and  put  an  end  to  my  thirst 
with  a  good  drink  of  milk." 

He  tried   to  milk   the   cow,  but   no   milk   would  come,  and 


THE    HORSE   THROWS    HANS    INTO   THE   DITCH   AND   STARTS   TO    RUN. 

soon  she  gave  him  such  a  kick  that  he  fell  on  the  ground,  and 
for  a  long  time  knew  not  where  he  was.  At  length  a  man 
came  by  with  a  pig,  and  helped  Hans  to  his  feet.  Hans  told 
him  all  that  had  passed,  and  he  held  out  a  flask  and  said  : 
"Here  take  a    drink.     Your  cow  might   well  give   no  milk; 


128  HANS  IN   LUCK 

she   is   an   old   beast,    and  good   but  for   meat  at  the   best." 
Well,    well, ' '    said   Hans,     : '  who  would   have   thought    it. 
For  my  part,  I  don't   like  cow's   flesh  ;  it's  too  tough.     But  a 
young  pig  like  yours  is  the  thing  that  tastes  right." 

'Well  now,  for  love  of  you,"  said  the  man,  "I  will  let  you 
have  my  pig  for  your  cow." 

"God  bless  you  for  your  kind  heart,"  said  Hans,  and  he 
gave  up  the  cow,  and  took  in  his  hand  the  string  with  which 
the  pig  was  led. 

On  he  went,  full  of  joy.  Soon  he  met  a  boy  with  a  goose, 
and  stopped  to  have  a  talk  with  him.  The  boy  told  him  he 
was  tak-ing  the  goose  to  a  house  where  there  was  to  be  a  feast. 
"Just  lift  it,"  said  he,  "and  feel  the  weight  of  it."  "Yes," 
said  Hans,  "it  is  fine ;  but  my  pig  has  some  flesh  on  it  too. 

As  he  spoke  the  boy  gave  sharp  looks,  first  on  this  side  and 
then  on  that,  and  at  length  he  broke  out.  "I  fear  all  is  not 
right  with  that  pig  of  yours.  In  the  town  I  just  came  through 
a  man  had  lost  one  of  his  pigs,  and  it  seems  to  me  this  may 
be  it.  If  they  find  you  with  it  they  will  think  that  you  stole 
it,  and  may  put  you  in  jail." 

Hans  turned  pale  with  fright.  "You  know  the  roads  in 
these  parts  bet-ter  than  I  do,"  said  he.  "Do  you  take  my 
pig  and  let  me  have  your  goose." 

"It  will  be  a  risk  for  me,"  said  the  boy,  "but  still  I  want 
to  save  you  from  harm,"  and  as  he  said  this  he  took  the  rope 


HANS   IN   LUCK 


129 


HANS    TRIES   TO    GET  A  DRINK    FROM    THE    COW. 

in  his  own  hand  and  drove  the  pig  off  by  a  side  path,  while 
Hans,  glad  to  be  out  of  his  scrape,  walked  on  with  the  goose 
tucked  un-der  his  arm. 

As  he  came  near  the  last  town  on  his  way  home,  he  saw  a 


130  HANS  IN  LUCK 

man  whose  trade  it  was  to  grind  knives.  He  had  a  grind-stone 
on  a  truck,  and  as  he  went  on  with  his  work;  his  wheel 
hummed,  and  he  sang  a  gay  tune : 

"  My  wheel  I  turn,  and  the  knives  I  grind, 
While  gay-ly  my  cloak  flies  out  be-hind." 

Hans  stopped  to  look  at  him,  and  at  length  said,  "Your 
trade  must  be  a  good  one,  since  you  sing  at  your  work. ' ' 

"Yes,"  said  the  man,  "this  work  pays  well.  A  man  who 
grinds  knives  is  one  who  finds  gold  in  his  purse  each  time  he 
puts  his  hand  in  it.  But  where  did  you  get  that  fine  goose, 
if  I  may  ask  you?" 

"I  gave  my  pig  for  it,"  said  Hans. 

"And  the  pig?" 

"I  gave  my  cow  for  it." 

"And  the  cow?" 

"I  gave  my  horse  for  her." 

"And  the  horse?" 

"For  him  I  gave  a  lump  of  gold  as  big  as  my  head." 

"And  the  gold?" 

"That  was  my  pay  for  six  years  of  work." 

"You  have  done  well  for  your-self,  to  be  sure,"  said  the 
man.  "Now  if  you  were  like  me,  and  could  find  gold  in  your 
purse  each  time  you  put  your  hand  in  it,  you  would  be  a 
made  man." 

"How  shall  I  do  that?"  asked  Hans. 


HANS  IN    LUCK 


131 


"I    FEAR   THAT  ALL    IS    NOT    RIGHT   WITH    THAT    PIG    OF    YOURS." 

"All  you  want  is  a  stone  to  grind  knives  on.  I  have  one 
that  is  not  quite  new,  so  I  will  let  you  have  it  if  you  will  give 
me  your  goose.     Would  that  suit  you?" 


132 


HANS  IN   LUCK 


"How  can  you  ask  me?"  said  Hans.  "I  will  do  it  with 
joy.  If  I  can  find  gold  in  my  purse  each  time  I  put  my  hand 
in  it,  what  else  shall  I  have  to  care  for  ? "  And  he  gave  the 
man  the  goose,  and  took  the  stone  from  him. 

1 '  Now, ' '  said  the  man,  as  he  took  up  a  plain  field  stone  which 


HANS    GLADLY  SEES    THE    STONES    FALL    INTO   THE   WELL. 

lay  near,  "there  is  a  fine  stone  which  will  be  just  the  thing 
to  ham-mer  your  old  nails  straight  on.    Take  it  with  you  too." 

Hans  raised  the  stone,  and  marched  off  in  great  glee.  "I 
must  have  been  born  to  a  heap  of  good  luck, ' '  said  he,  ' '  for 
all  things  turn  out  just  as  I  wish  to  have  them." 

But  he  had  been  on  his  legs  since  day-break,  and  the  weight 
of  the   stones   soon   made   him  tired   and  weak.     He  could  not 


THE  MOUSE,  TIIK   BIRD,   AND  THE   SAUSAGE  133 

keep  out  of  his  mind  the  thought,  ' '  How  nice  it  would  be 
now  if  I  had  not  these  to  drag  with  me." 

Just  then  he  came  to  a  well,  and  thought  he  must  stop  to 
have  a  drink.  He  set  the  stones  down  by  the  brink  of  the 
well,  and  stooped  down  to  drink.  As  he  did  so,  he  gave  the 
stones,  by  chance,  a  slight  push,  and  they  fell  in  the  well. 

As  he  saw  them  go  down,  Hans  glad-ly  sprang  up,  and  then, 
with  tears  of  joy  in  his  eyes,  fell  on  his  knees  to  give  thanks 
that  in  so  nice  a  way,  and  with  no  fault  on  his  part,  he 
had  got  rid  of  the  load  that  had  made  him  so  tired. 

And  then  with  a  light  heart,  and  free  from  all  care,  he  ran 
on  at  the  top  of  his  speed  till  he  reached  his  home. 


THE  MOUSE,  THE  BIRD,  AND 
THE  SAUSAGE 

ONCE  on  a  time  a  mouse,  a  bird,  and  a  sau-sage  struck 
up  a  friend-ship,  and  all  lived  in  peace  in  one  house. 
It  was  the  work  of  the  bird  to  go  to  the  woods  each  day 
and  fetch  wood,  the  mouse  brought  the  wa-ter  and  made  the 
fire,  while  the  sau-sage  staid  at  home  and  cooked  the  meals. 
There  are  few  so  well  off  that  they  do  not  long  for  some- 
thing bet-ter,  and  thus  it  was  with  the  bird.  One  day  he  met 
a  bird  on  the  way  to  the  wood,  whom  he  told  a -bout  the  way 


134 


THE  MOUSE,  THE  BIRD,  AND  THE  SAUSAGE 


he  lived,  and  that  bird  said 
to  him  that  he  was  a  fool  to 
do  so  much  hard  work  while 
the  mouse  and  the  sau-sage 
had  such  a  good  time  at  home. 
"For,"  said  he,  "when  the 
mouse  has  brought  the  wa-ter 
and  made  the  fire,  she  can  go 
to  her,  room  and  rest  till 
called  to  the  ta-ble.  And  the 
sau-sage  has  but  to  sit  by  the 


THE   MOUSE,  THE   BIRD,   AND  THE   SAUSAGE  135 

stove  and  see  that  the  food  is  well  cooked.  When  it  is  meal 
time,  he  dips  him-self  in-to  the  pans  three  or  four  times,  and 
thus  each  dish  is  sea-soned  right  for  the  ta-ble." 

The  bird  heard  him,  and  went  home.  He  laid  down  his 
pack  of  wood,  and  they  all  sat  down,  ate  a  good  meal,  and 
then  went  to  bed  and  slept  till  dawn.  But  the  next  day  the 
bird  would  not  go  for  wood.  He  said  he  had  been  their  slave 
long  e-nough ;  he  was  a  fool  to  have  done  so  much  work :  there 
must  be  a  change ;  some  plan  that  was  more  fair  must  be  tried. 

The  mouse  and  the  sau-sage  found  fault  with  these  words, 
but  the  bird  was  mas-ter.  So  they  drew  lots,  and  it  fell  to 
the  sau-sage  to  fetch  wood,  the  mouse  to  cook,  and  the  bird 
to  bring  the  wa-ter. 

What  took  place?  The  sau-sage  went  for  the  wood;  the 
bird  made  the  fire ;  the  mouse  put  on  the  pot,  and  then  they 
two  sat  down  to  wait  for  the  sau-sage  to  come  back  with  wood 
for  the  next  day. 

But  the  sau-sage  was  gone  so  long  they  feared  he  must  have 
met  with  ill  luck,  so  the  bird  went  to  meet  him.  Not  far  off 
he  met  a  dog  who  owned  up  that  he  had  eat-en  the  sau-sage, 
The  bird  felt  sad  at  this  and  took  up  the  wood  and  went  home. 
He  told  the  mouse  all  he  had  seen  and  heard,  and  they  grieved 
o-ver  the  loss  of  their  friend. 

But  they  thought  they  would  try  to  make  the  best  of  it,  so 
the  bird   set   the  ta-ble,  while   the  mouse   fixed   the  food.     She 


136  THE  FOX  AND  THE  CAT 

wished  to  sea-son  the  broth  as  she  had  seen  the  sau-sage  do, 
so  she  swung  her-self  in-to  the  pot,  but  her  hair  and  skin  came 
off  at  once,  and  she  lost  her  life. 

When  the  bird  came  to  dish  up  the  food,  no  cook  was  to  be 
seen.  He  threw  the  wood  on  all  sides  in  his  search,  but  she 
was  not  to  be  found.  The  bird  took  no  care  where  he  threw 
the  wood,  and  some  fell  on  the  fire  and  be-gan  to  blaze.  He 
flew  for  some  wa-ter.  As  he  stooped  in  haste  o-ver  the  brook, 
the  pail  fall  in,  and  he  was  pulled  in  with  it  and  drowned. 

"Let  well  e-nough  a-lone." 


THE   FOX  AND  THE   CAT 

ONE  day  a  cat  met  a  fox  in  the  woods,  and  thought : 
' '  Mr.  Fox  is  so  smart  and  wise  and  has  such  a  name 
in  the  world,  I  think  I  will  speak  to  him. ' '     So  she  said : 

"Good  day,  Mr.  Fox,  how  is  your  health?  How  do  you 
fare  these  hard  times  ? ' ' 

But  the  fox,  who  was  as  proud  as  he  could  be,  looked  at 
the  cat  from  head  to  foot,  as  if  he  thought  he  ought  not  to 
speak  to  her.  At  length  he  said:  "Oh,  you  poor  whisk-er 
clean-er,  you  starved  mouse-hunt-er,  what  ails  you?  You  dare 
to  ask  how  I  fare  !     What  tricks  do  you  know  ? ' ' 

"I  know  but  one,"  said  the  cat. 


THE  OLD   MAN   AND   HIS  GRANDSON  137 

'  'And  what  is  that  ? ' '  asked  the  fox. 

"When  the  dogs  chase  me,  I  spring  in-to  a  tree,  and  thus 
save  my  life,"  said  the  cat. 

"Is  that  all  you  know?"  said  the  fox.  "I  know  a  hun- 
dred tricks,  and  more  than  this,  have  a  sack  full  of  cun-ning. 
But  I  feel  sad  for  you  :  come  with  me,  and  I  will  teach  you 
how  to  es-cape  from  the  dogs." 

Just  then  the  hunt-ers  came  up  with  their  dogs. 

The  cat  sprang  in-to  a  tree,  sat  her-self  in  the  boughs,  and 
was  quite  hid-den  by  the  leaves. 

"O-pen  the  sack,  Mr.  Fox,"  she  called  to  the  fox,  but  the 
dogs  had  seized  him  and  held  him  fast. 

"Ah!  Mr.  Fox,"  she  called  once  more,  "your  hun-dred 
tricks  are  not  of  much  use  to  you ;  if  you  had  but  been  a-ble 
to  crawl  up  here,  you  might  have  saved  your  life." 


THE  OLD   MAN   AND   HIS   GRANDSON 

ONCE  there  was  an  old,  old  man,  whose  eyes  were  dim, 
his  ears  deaf,  and  his  hands  shook  so  that  he  could  not 
guide  his  food  to  his  mouth,  but  what  he  held  was  spilled  on 
the  ta-ble  and  on  his  clothes.  His  son  and  his  son's  wife  were 
ill  pleased  at  this,  and  at  last  they  made  him  sit  in  a  cor-ner, 
and  eat  out  of  an  earth-en  dish 


138 


THE   OLD   MAN   AND   HIS   GRANDSON 


Once  his  poor  old  hands  could  not  hold  e-ven  the  dish,  and 
it  fell  to  the  floor  and  broke.  Then  the  wife  scold -ed,  and 
they  bought  him  a  dish  of  wood,  and  gave  him  his  meals  in 
that. 

One  day  as   they  sat   at   the  ta-ble,    their   four-year-old   boy 
brought   in  some   small   boards 
and    tried     to    nail     them    to- 
gether.     ' '  What  do  you  wish 
to  make?"  asked  the  fa-ther. 

"A  lit-tle  trough  for  you  and 
moth-er  to  eat  out  of  when 
I  grow  big,"  said  the  child. 

The  man  and  wife  looked  at 
each  oth-er  a-while 
and  then  be-gan  to 
cry.  The  child  had 
taught  them  a  les- 
son. Af-ter  this  the 
old  man  came  to 
the  ta-ble,  and  not 
a  word  was  said 
e-ven  if  he  did  spill 
some    of    his    food 


on  the  cloth. 


THE   OLD    MAN   AND    HIS   GRANDSON. 


139 

OLD   SULTAN 

THERE  was  once  a  man  who  had  a  good  dog  called  Sul-tan. 
He  was  so  old  that  he  had  lost  all  his  teeth,  and  so 
could  not  seize  or  hold  an-y  thing.  One  day  the  man  said  to 
his  wife,  as  they  stood  at  the  door  of  the  house,  "Old  Sul-tan 
is  of  no  use  now;  I  mean  to  shoot  him  in  the  morn-ing. " 

His  wife  felt  sad  for  the  poor  dog,  and  said,  : '  He  has  been 
a  good  dog  all  these  years,  and  we  ought  to  give  him  food  and 
a  home  in  his  old  age." 

"What  is  that?'  said  the  man.  "Are  you  out  of  your 
mind  ?  He  has  not  a  tooth  in  his  head ;  he  is  of  no  use  as  a 
watch-dog,  and  now  he  can  go.  He  may  have  served  us  well, 
but  for  that  we  have  fed  him  all  his  life." 

The  poor  dog,  who  lay  in  the  sun  not  far  from  the  door, 
heard  all  this  talk,  and  felt  sad  to  know  that  the  next  day 
would  be  the  last  of  his  life.  He  had  one  good  friend  out  in 
the  woods,  and  that  was  the  wolf;  and  now  he  went  to  see 
him  and  tell  him  what  he  had  to  face. 

"Don't  feel  bad,  old  chap,"  said  the  wolf.  "I  can  help 
you  in  your  need.  At  dawn  the  man  and  his  wife  will  go  out 
to  make  hay,  and  will  take  their  child  a-long,  as  there  is  no 
one  at  home  to  take  care  of  it.  While  they  are  at  work  they 
will  place  the  child  in  the  hedge.  You  must  lie  down  near  it 
as  if  to  watch  it.     I  will  rush  out  of  the  woods,  seize  the  child, 


140 


OLD   SULTAN 


and  drag  it  off.  You  must  spring  at  me  as  if  you  would  tear 
it  from  me,  and  I  will  let  it  fall,  and  you  can  bring  it  back 
to  the  man  and  his  wife.  They  will  think  you  have  saved  its 
life,  and  feel  they  owe  you  so  much  that  they  will  not  want 
to  see  you  come  to  harm." 

The  dog  liked  this  plan,  and  it  was  done.  The  man  was 
full  of  grief  when  he  saw  the  wolf  run  through  the  field  with 
his  child ;  but  when  old  Sul-tan  brought  it  back,  he  was  glad, 
and  he  stroked  his  back,  and  said,  "Not  a  hair  of  you  shall 
be  harmed.     You   shall   be   fed   and  cared  for  as   long  as   you 

live."  Then  he  said  to  his 
wife,  "Go  home  and  cook 
some  bread  and  milk  for 
him,  for  he  will  not  need 
teeth  for  that,  and  bring  the 
pil-low  from  my  bed,  I  will 
let  him  have  it  to  lie  on. 

From  that  time  on  old 
Sul-tan  had  all  that  heart 
could  wish  for. 

One  day  the  wolf  came 
to  see  him,  and  said,  "Of 
course  you  would  not  let  on  to  see  me  if  I  came  and  took  a 
sheep  from  your  mas-ter's  flock.  It  is  hard  work,  these  times. 
I  can  tell  you,  to  catch  one." 


THE    WILD    BOAR    BRINGS   A   CHALLENGE. 


OLD  SULTAN  141 

"You  must  not  count  on  that,"  said  Sul-tan,  "I  will  be 
true  to  my  mas-ter,  and  let  no  one  steal  from  him. 

The  wolf  thought  this  was  a  joke  of  Sul-tan's,  and  he  came 
that  night  to   steal  a  sheep.     But   Sul-tan   had  told   the  man, 


*"*«*•" 


OLD    SULTAN    AND    HIS    SECOND. 

and  he  caught  the  wolf  and  beat  him  well.  The  wolf  was  so 
mad  at  Sul-tan  for  this  that  he  sent  him  a  chal-lenge  to  meet 
him  in  the  woods  and  fight.  The  chal-lenge  was  brought  by 
a  wild  boar,  who  was  to  be  the  wolf's  sec-ond  in  the  fight. 

Poor  old   Sul-tan  could  find   no  one  to  stand  by  him  but  a 
cat   that  had   but  three  legs.     But   they  set  out  with-out  fear, 


142  OLD  SULTAN 

the  cat  limp-ing  on  its  three  .legs,  and  its  tail  stuck  high  in 
the  air.  The  wolf  and  the  boar  were  on  the  spot  that  had 
been  named,  but  when  they  saw  the  pair  coming,  they  thought 
Sul-tan  had  a  big  sword,  be-cause  they  saw  in  front  the  tail  of 
the  cat,  and  each  time  the  poor  thing  limped  on  its  three  legs, 
they  thought  he  was  go-ing  to  pick  up  a  great  stone  to  throw 
at  them.  They  were  both  scared,  and  the  boar  crept  un-der 
some  leaves,  and  the  wolf  climbed  up  a  tree.  When  the  dog 
and  the  cat  came  to  the  spot,  they  did  not  know  what  had 
be-come  of  their  foes.  But  one  of  the  boar's  ears  stuck  out, 
and  the  cat  saw  it  twitch.  It  looked  like  a  mouse,  and  the 
cat  made  a  spring  and  gave  it  a  good  bite.  The  boar  let  forth 
a  scream  of  pain,  and  ran  off  to  the  woods,  cry-ing,  "There 
is  the  guil-ty  one,  up  in  the  tree." 

The  dog  and  the  cat  looked  up  and  saw  the  wolf,  who  was 
so  full  of  shame  for  his  acts  that  he  was  glad  to  come  down 
and  make  peace  with  the  dog. 


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